The Birth of Dreams
by Crescentium
Summary: Dreaming the Rainbow, Part One. Having exhausted the library of Ponyville for the entertainment of the baby ponies, Kimono opens the Book of Dreams and tells the tale of how the little ponies came to be.
1. When a Wish Came True

**Author's Notes:** My Little Ponies are property of Hasbro Inc. Most of the characters appearing here will be Hasbro creations. I, however, retain all rights to the creation of the story and personalities of the characters depicted. Please do not steal from me. This is my baby. Thank you.

**Added June 2013: **It occurred to me recently that now that MLP:FiM is so popular, it might not be a bad idea to mention that this story, as you can see was started long before FiM happened. The story has nothing to do with FiM, and the pony Twilight that will be mentioned in the course of the story is not Twilight Sparkle but the original Twilight from the original MLP series from 1980s (think _Rescue at Midnight Castle_).

* * *

**Chapter One: When a Wish Came True**

"Once upon a time there was a land filled with magic and danger."

"Is this the story where the Princess is kidnapped by the stratadon and kept in the tower unless she agrees to marry the Evil Prince?"

Kimono looked up from the book she had open on the floor in front of her. The large eyes of the little baby ponies around her looked a little bored, and the filly who had spoken seemed she was the most bored of them all. Kimono arched her neck a little as she straightened her back. She was an adult mare already, in fact she was getting old. Wrinkles had began to appear round the corners of her eyes, and her mane did no longer have the wonderful deep shine of purple it had once had. The sparkle had gone from her hair, and she was becoming slow of walking. She expected it was one of the reasons why the others had suggested she take the responsibility of reading aloud to the baby ponies every evening at the Baby Pony Story Club; as she had become older, she had become more confined to the library and her studies, and the other ponies undoubtedly felt that some young company would do good to her, to remind her of the living world outside books. Also, the Story Club would keep the little ones nicely entertained while their parents went out to have fun with one another. Kimono, of course, never had anyone to go out with, so it all worked out.

Well, truth was, Kimono was not entirely against the idea. She had always loved children, and would have gladly had one herself, had the right stallion come along. Well, of course, he had once, but that was another story. She looked around the small heads around her now, realising that she had read them the same stories now for a long time. It was not a wonder that they were getting bored, but of course, the Ponyville library was only so big. She had read everything there was to read.

"Well, yes," she admitted, correcting the pair of glasses on her nose - she had had to resort to reading glasses a few years back, "yes, yes it is."

The filly who had spoken before let out an exasperated sigh, blowing the hair off her face as she laid her head down on her forehooves.

"We've heard that at least a hundred times!" she complained. "Can't you read something else?"

"Well..." Kimono shifted uncomfortably. "Truth is, I've read through the library - well, everything you might like, anyway. I mean, you would hardly be interested in a biology book."

"So," the filly said stubbornly, "then tell us some other story."

"I don't know any other stories," Kimono countered and closed the book, feeling a little at a loss with the baby ponies now. She was not good at making stories up, and she expected they could spot it if she tried to tell them a story they had already heard in slightly altered form. Her eyes went around the room as she tried to think of a story to tell. Just then her eyes hit an old painting across the room. This was the Dream Room of the Celebration Castle. It had been selected for the Story Club for the precise reason that it held a certain... magical feeling to it. The Dream Room had many paintings on its walls, and even a few tapestries, and all these images told of different events in the Ponyland history. Her frown cleared off as she examined the painting which stood alone between two pillars, depicting a white unicorn. "Of course... there is the Book of Dreams," she murmured, half to herself, half to the baby ponies.

The little ones' ears perked up immediately.

"Book of Dreams?" the filly who had spoken earlier asked, now eagerly. "What's that?"

Kimono turned her eyes off from the painting and looked at the baby ponies. She was faced with a sea of curious, eager eyes and perked up ears. She had not got this much attention since the beginning of the Story Club. Her tail twitched a little nervously. She wasn't sure if she should have told the little ones about this, but then, she thought, what harm could it do? They needed to know one day, in any case.

"Well, it's... it's the book of the history of Ponyland," she said and got up on her feet.

"Oh." The filly sounded a little disappointed. "So it's like those boring old stories about the War of the Midnight Castle and Tambelon?"

Kimono's eyes flashed.

"No," she said firmly. "Because the Book of Dreams tells the story the way it really went. Or did you really think that simply ringing a silly bell could destroy the Lord of Darkness?" She shook her head. "No, no, baby ponies, this Book tells the _true _history of Ponyland - not just the version you hear spoken on the streets or the one your mothers told you for bedtime story when you were little." She hesitated. "But then, perhaps it is too much for you. You are still very young."

The filly, who - like all the other baby ponies - had by now got really excited, wrinkled her nose.

"We're not that young!" she protested. "Come on, Kimono, tell us the story!"

"Yes! Yes! Tell us the story!" the others chimed in, and soon there was a choir of little peeping voices all around Kimono, demanding she tell them. She hesitated for a while, but finally she gave in. She had stirred their curiosity, after all, she supposed she should go on now that she'd come this far.

"Oh, all right," she said and nodded. "But the moment it gets too scary, you tell me, all right?"

The little colts and fillies agreed to this, and Kimono went to fetch the large book that stood alone on the shelf right below the painting of the white unicorn. Kimono looked up at the unicorn and smiled gently, bowing her head ever so slightly in respectful greeting to this ancient pony. Then she took the book and placed it on the floor in front of her, sitting down comfortably. The baby ponies all came closer and formed a half-circle around her, taking comfortable positions with their pillows and leaning onto one another, settling down to listen. When all the shuffling and rustling had ceased, Kimono looked up.

"Now," she said softly, "let us begin. What is the phrase again... oh yes, once upon a time. Once upon a time, there was a little human girl who made a wish."

"Human girl?" peeped out one of the baby ponies. "Like Molly?"

Kimono, slightly irritated for being interrupted so soon, waved a hoof. "Yes, like Molly. Now, may I continue?"

There was a hushed silence, and Kimono nodded in satisfaction and continued, now reading.

* * *

This little girl had always loved horses, and of all equines she loved unicorns more than anything else. When she had been growing up, she had asked for her parents to get her a unicorn, upon which they had told her that unicorns did not exist. The little girl had trouble accepting that. How could such a wonderful creature as a unicorn not exist? And so she dreamed of unicorns, she drew them everywhere and imagined just what her unicorn would look like. Her parents did not like her daydreaming, and finally confronted her, telling her to stop her silly fantasies. There were _no_ unicorns in the world.

The little girl ran to her room and closed the door firmly behind her. She thought about the problem for a long time. Her parents had told her there were no unicorns in the world. In this world, they had meant, she was sure. Surely, somewhere, somewhere in another world, unicorns did exist. And so she wished. She wished that there really, really was a unicorn somewhere, with real magic. She wished that this unicorn could speak with animals and humans, and that the unicorn lived in a beautiful land. She wished with all her being that this dream would be true.

And far, far away, her wish was heard. Powerful magic in a world more ancient than the human race itself was touched by the wish and a dream began to take shape.

A pure white unicorn, just like the little girl had imagined, appeared on a sunny meadow surrounded with blue flowers that had five small petals. The unicorn was but a baby, and she cried out, alarmed, when she opened her clear white eyes.

"Mother?" she called out, for from somewhere deep inside she knew, with the instinct possessed by all living things, magical or not, that she should have a mother. But she saw nothing but a clear, blue sky and soft, white clouds and a wide open meadow filled with beautiful blue flowers. She whined and put her muzzle against the ground. She closed her eyes and trembled with fright.

"I wish," she whinnied, "that I understood!"

And with those words, a sudden instinct, not created by nature but by magic, awoke within her. She silenced her mind and her frightened heart and listened. She could feel the magic inside her, around her, and she breathed slow and deep when the understanding of an eons-old magic sprouted within her heart. She heard quiet voices echoing in her mind, reaching out to her through space immeasurable. And as she listened to them, she slowly began to understand who and what she was.

_"I wish I had a pony…"_

_"I wish I could fly…"_

_"I wish my parents would stop fighting…"_

_"I wish…"_

_"I wish…"_

_"I wish…"_

The voices faded into faint whispers, and she raised her head. She looked about in the sunny meadow with her now bright blue eyes that were suddenly much older than the span of her life. She got up on her feet and breathed deep. She knew now who she was and why she was there. She knew that there was another world somewhere, far away, beyond a distance she could not hope to cross, and she knew that she could hear the wishes of the inhabitants of this other world. She could hear them because she was herself part of those wishes, she was part of those dreams. She could feel the pain and joy of those people because they had given her life, and she knew that should any of them know her and believe in her existence, she could grant them all those wishes, help them make their dreams come true. But she knew they never would, for even as she reached out far to them to listen to them, they were not aware of her, and she could only meet them in their dreams, in a place where they could believe into her, and when they woke again they would forget about her again. She knew that she had the power of wishes and dreams, and that this power was nearly limitless. She also knew that she had just used her very first wish. She had still dozens of them left for herself, and hundreds and hundreds for others, but one day they would come to an end. And when they would, it would be time she rested her head back on this meadow, and let the power that had created her consume her and take her away.

The unicorn smiled, calm for all the knowledge her very first wish - "I wish I understood" - had given her. In an instant, she had received knowledge that she otherwise would have needed to learn years and years. She looked around in the little valley, and she knew that the tall green things that surrounded the meadow were trees. She knew that the little rippling, glimmering thing that snaked through the valley was a brook. She knew that the lush green spikes around her were grass, and the little blue stars were flowers. She knew about the sky, and the wind, and the clouds.

Thus began the life of the oldest of all ponies. Her magic was based on wishes and dreams, and as she was the first, she shall also be the last of the ponies in Ponyland, because only when the magic of Ponyland dies, she shall die. She had no name when she was born, and for many years she still had none. She roamed the land that also was nameless, and listened to the wishes of earthlings as they echoed to her through the stars. But she did not use her magic, because there was none in her land to ask anything from her, and she did not need to have any wishes because she had all she needed in the sweet valley she called her home.

Among the friends she would later make she would be simply called the Unicorn, for there were no others like her.

* * *

The little Unicorn soon found that the blue flowers that grew on the meadow tasted good and refreshed her. The grass did not taste quite as good, but it passed for food. When she rose to her feet she did not fumble or stagger. Though she was but minutes old, she was not the size of a newborn foal. She knew she would still grow, but as she tried her feet she found that she was already fast and agile.

As minutes, hours, then days passed, she tested her body more and more, finding out new things about it every day. She could run around the meadow without stumbling. Eventually she tried her voice and found she could both whinny and neigh. For a few hours she whinnied and neighed and reared and ran just for the sheer joy of trying out her body. Exhilaration of a spirit become flesh filled her, and she romped until she was too tired to move anymore. Then she fell on her side on the grass and smiled up to the skies. Every bodily experience was new to her at this point, and she found strange pleasure in being exhausted. There was a comfortable tiredness all over her body, and it felt nice to just lie down. She watched the clouds move above her, their shadows rippling over her pure white body. She thought that the clouds raced across the skies like a herd of galloping snowy horses, their manes flowing in the wind. Slowly, her smile faded and she hoisted herself up on her elbows, her neck stretched up toward the sky.

_She _had no one to run with. She watched the clouds for a while in silence. Thoughts raced through her head like reckless colts on a spring day. She had no one. With her magic, she could visit the humans in their dreams. She could run with them and play with them, if they let her. But when they woke, they never remembered anything. The Unicorn was sure that the little girl who had wished for her would have remembered her, but she could not find her. She had tried many a night, but there were so many humans. There were so many little girls.

It never occurred to the little Unicorn just how unique and special she was. It never occurred to her that she was almost divine in the spectacular way that she was born. To her, her creation was a commonplace thing. She did not feel unique. She only felt... lonely.

Sighing, the little Unicorn turned her eyes down from the skies and looked at the blue flowers that littered the meadow. Absent-mindedly, she reached her head down and picked up a flower. She was not sure why she knew that the blue flowers would have been called marsh marigolds, only that they were blue in colour. She wondered if she knew any other flower names. She tried to think, but none came to her mind. She strained her mind. She knew not all flowers looked like these and she knew they had other names, but she could not think of any. A little frustrated with the effort to think up other flowers, she tossed her head and rolled on her back. As she looked at the clouds again she wondered why there were so many things she knew, and yet so many that she did not.

For one thing, she wondered about the name of the land she had been born in. She knew that there was such a thing as a human world. Another plane of existence, she surmised. But where was she now? She had no name to call this land. It was not among the things she had picked up from the minds and hearts of the humans she had touched.

The Unicorn closed her eyes and allowed herself to slip into the trance in which she could travel between worlds. Between forms of existence. She floated quietly into a dream.

The boy was running through a forest. It was dark, and he was panting hard, looking over his shoulder now and then as though he feared something was following him. The Unicorn stood to the side, her ethereal body shimmering gently in a light that had no source. She watched the boy clamber over tree trunks and through thickets. Branches scraped his face and she could hear his panting in her ears loud, desperate. She closed her eyes slowly, and when she opened them again, she was running alongside the boy, her shining white hooves hardly touching the ground. He looked at her, and suddenly he was not scared. She smiled to him gently.

"You are safe," she spoke to him and tossed her head. Her lovely silky mane flowed in the wind she could not feel on her face, and her white body shone more brightly, and suddenly the entire forest was lit by her glow. The boy stopped running. He looked at her, shaking, and she strode a few more steps until she turned gracefully, like a swan in water. She stepped high as she returned to him, and stopped next to him.

The boy looked like he was about three years old. He smiled insecurely and reached out his hand. The Unicorn smiled and looked at him gently with her clear blue eyes. She extended her head, allowing him to touch her horn. He patted her muzzle and reached his hand up toward her mane...

_"Richard!"_ The boy jolted. The Unicorn jumped a little. Her eyes grew anxious. The boy turned to look over his shoulder.

_"Richard! Wake up!"_ It was a female voice. The Unicorn watched the boy turn around and start fading away. She sighed as she closed her eyes. The nightmare she had turned into a dream was over.

She soon opened her eyes on the meadow, in her real body. The Unicorn shook her head and looked up at the sky where the snowy clouds were still chasing each other across the clear blue space. A sigh erupted from her lungs. There were no answers in the dreams. She suspected she would never find the three-year-old Richard again the next time she would search for human dreams.

No, she did not feel special or unique. She only felt alone.

* * *

Kimono stopped reading and shut the book with one hoof. She looked up to the awed faces around her and smiled to herself, quite pleased to have stirred such obvious emotions in her small listeners. It was time _someone_ shared her fascination to the ancient history of their race. After all, it was an important part of who they were, and why they were there. The forgetfulness that had once swept through the Ponyland and nearly destroyed everything must not be allowed to take hold of the hearts of ponies again.

"What? Was that _it_?" the shrill voice of the filly who seemed to do most of the talking asked, sounding quite displeased. "But what _happened_ to her?"

Kimono smiled a little and chuckled.

"That, my little ponies," she said gently, "you will find out in the next meeting of the Story Club."

* * *

Author's Notes: I will be overjoyed for any possible reviews, for the better or worse. The actual writing process of this story is still in the making, and this means that with the help of your reviews I can make the story that much better in the next chapter. So if anything was left unclear or puzzling, feel free to ask me, and I'll see what I can do in the next chapter.

EDIT: This is the new, edited version of the chapter. One whole scene was added 18th November 2006.


	2. The Witch of Gloom Valley

Author's Notes: From here on you may prepare to meet a lot of non-pony Hasbro creations. I don't use many original non-pony characters as I see the villains and friends of ponies outlined in the cartoons quite sufficient. Readers may do well to keep in mind that the story is currently moving in the early history of Ponyland, and that means that most of the characters introduced in the cartoons will be a lot younger.

* * *

**Chapter Two: The Witch of Gloom Valley**

The Dream Room of the Celebration Castle was filling up with baby ponies. The word had spread that Kimono had opened the Book of Dreams, and many more parents had urged their foals to go and hear the story. There was a bubbling of voices as the foals who had been here the last time were filling their friends in on what had passed before. Many baby ponies were studying the paintings and the tapestries, making guesses about what kind of stories were attached to the paintings and when they'd get to hear about them. They quickly figured out that the Dream Room was not arranged in chronological order, for the painting of the white unicorn was placed on a central spot, and heroes whose names they knew but who must have come long after her were scattered around the room in what seemed a random order.

Kimono was surprised at the crowd of baby ponies gathered round as she opened the door. She had not expected to find so much more new listeners, but secretly she was pleased. She always felt that the other ponies ignored the past too easily, and was happy to be able to spread the word of the true history before it would - once again - become lost.

She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. When the baby ponies noticed her, they rushed to take their places on the floor, becoming a fumbling mass of small feet and little noses, all in a pile as close as possible to the place where Kimono would settle to read. Kimono smiled and sat down, taking the book out again.

"Kimono," one of the baby ponies peeped out while Kimono was looking for the right place. "You said that the Unicorn was all white and that she's the one in that painting. Then why does the painting have blue mane and a symbol? She looks like a normal pony."

Kimono looked up and over her shoulder, studying the painting for a while before turning to the little ponies again.

"I also told you that her eyes changed colour when she made her very first wish, did I not? Well, she made many more wishes and they, too, changed her colours."

"Oooh, what wishes did she make?" another baby pony squeaked, sounding excited.

Kimono smiled secretively.

"We will get to that much later. For now, we will concentrate on what happened to her before she made any more wishes. All right, are everyone ready? Good. Then let's begin."

* * *

Though the little valley and the meadow she had been born on were peaceful and a good place for a small, inexperienced Unicorn to grow up in, eventually the need to have company drove her out to explore. And so the First Unicorn set out to explore the world she would call home. She yearned for knowledge. Being all alone in the world, no others of her kind to seek comfort from, the search for knowledge was her first desire. She had gained much wisdom from her first wish - she knew who she was and why she was there, but she knew very little of the world around her. Was it there just for her? Had the little girl who had dreamed her dreamed also this world she lived in? Or had the world been there before her? She did not know.

The Unicorn walked away from the meadow of the blue flowers, setting out aimlessly. She had no plan. After the meadow came a forest. She walked through the forest, smiling at the little squirrels and other animals she saw disappearing behind the trees or looking at her from within the bushes. Sometimes she would try to approach some of the creatures she saw, but they always ran from her. This made her sad and she could not understand why they behaved so. She did not think she looked especially dangerous, and her longing for company made the fear of the animals feel all the worse to her.

To make her feel even worse, the forest seemed to get darker all the time. The clear skies and snowy clouds turned murky and bleak above her and the shadows seemed to grow denser, somehow. The Unicorn slowed down more and more. The air around her started to weigh on her, and soon she felt as though a heavy blanket was thrown over her shoulders. It became harder and harder for her to move lightly. She felt as though the darkening skies and the heavy air were beginning to pull her spirits down as well, and soon she felt downright depressed. Still, she pushed on until she was sure she saw the edge of the forest. She felt a surge of relief. Surely there would be another lush, verdant valley there, just waiting for her, with fresh grass and a glimmering brook, just like at her home meadow. She galloped the few last yards, until...

She paused at the edge of the woods and looked out through the bushes and the trees, shivering at the disappointing sight. The valley she saw spreading out before her was anything but lush and verdant. It was barren and ugly. What grass there grew was yellow and stubbly, and where there obviously had been a river, there was now but a sandy groove, snaking through the valley. And in the middle of that wasteland stood a castle. It was a fairly large castle, made up of dreary dusty stones, with ugly metallic turrets, and it clearly invited no visitors.

The Unicorn wrinkled her nose. She did not like the looks of that castle. It was ominous, and somehow it seemed as though dark clouds gathered heavier above the castle. She could feel the evil magic pulsating in the air. This was a dark place, domain of someone evil. Instinctively, the Unicorn felt disgust toward the owner of the castle.

As she watched, the gates of the castle suddenly broke open, and something that seemed to be all limbs and knobbly body floundered out. It was running, as fast as it could, across the barren waste that might have once been a meadow. It was screaming with terror as it ran, and the Unicorn soon saw exactly why. A dark black wave of something purple was oozing out of the castle, rolling along the ground, gaining on the poor creature.

By all reason the Unicorn should have turned and ran. She was a baby pony, and though she was not as small as a newborn, she had been conceived by magic only some days before. There was no reason why she should have been able to stand against whatever evil it was that threatened the running creature. Yet, she did not turn nor did she flee. Perhaps she had been made arrogant by the great power she had over the nightmares of humans. Perhaps she simply did not fully appreciate the potential danger. At any rate, she had been born with an instinct, an urge that stopped her from feeling fear toward the Dark. She had been born with an urge to fight evil. And almost before she knew what she was doing, she had bounded off into action, running as fast as her little feet would carry her, across the meadow - right _toward_ the creature and the evil that was chasing him. As she galloped closer she could see that the creature could not outrun the wave that followed him. She could also see that she could not reach him in time herself. She bit her lip and stretched her limbs, calling on all the strength she had within her...

And suddenly she felt a strange flutter around her in the air, it was as though a thousand butterfly wings had fluttered in the air around her, and she felt the ground disappear even as she became aware of a bright light that surrounded her... and then, the next thing she knew, she was right beside the scared creature, running past him toward the huge dark purple wave that was beginning to gather height, its obvious attempt to crash upon its prey. The Unicorn did not stop to wonder about the strange jump through space she had just made. She hit all her four hooves to the ground to stop herself, and stood up proudly. She could feel evil magic in the enormous purple wave that towered above her. It looked like a mass of strange unrecognisable goo which would smother all life underneath. Its aura pulsated with such despair that the Unicorn had to gasp and gather all the strength she had in order to keep from letting the bad feelings take her over.

Still, she didn't know what she was exactly doing. The only power she had was the power of wishes and dreams. And should she wish for this, this evil substance to simply disappear, it would drain her. Drain her so that there might not be any more wishes left for her. And then, what of the next evil that would face her? No, wishing was not the way. Neither could she change what was happening, since this was not a nightmare. It was real. She felt a shudder of fear go through her, for the first time in her short life. It was an unpleasant emotion.

She had only a few moments to decide on a course of action. The wave was towering and would soon crash down on her and the strange creature that was still running, but not far and fast enough. And they would both be engulfed by this evil thing...

"Stop!" The voice was cranky and screeching, and it was coming from behind the wave, from high on the parapets of the castle. The wave froze at once and a shudder went through it as it stood rigid, looming above the Unicorn and the creature who glanced behind, screamed and fell into a small huddle to the ground.

The Unicorn looked across to the castle. She could make out the short and shrivelled form of something that looked vaguely like a human female. The woman was young though not a girl, and she had a hooked nose and messy hair and absolutely terribly applied make-up. She was wearing robes of a strange design and the nasty expression on her face made her even more unattractive than the irregular, saggy features and yellow teeth did. The Unicorn knew at once that she did not like this person.

"Who... _what_ are you?" the woman called down to the Unicorn, squinting at her.

The Unicorn lifted her little head proudly.

"I am who I am," she answered. She had no better answer, for one, and for another, she did not feel she owed this hideous creature any answers, anyway. "Who are you, to attack helpless creatures?"

The woman made a face that might have been a smile - or a grimace.

"I am Hydia," she screamed - it seemed as though she spent half her time screaming or screeching. "The Witch of Gloom Valley!"

The Unicorn flattened her ears. She realised now that this woman - this witch - was the evil mistress of the castle. She controlled the wave, and she was undoubtedly the reason for the name and condition of this valley.

"And you, my little pony," the Witch continued as she stared at the Unicorn, "have chosen the wrong person to mess with. Don't you know the Smooze could destroy you at any moment upon my command?"

The little Unicorn wrinkled her nose and glanced at the wave, not especially terrified by the name the Witch had given to it.

"I could outrun your Smooze at any time," she replied. It must be true; she had already once done it, though she had no idea how it had happened. Nevertheless it had happened, and she was sure she could do it again if she needed to. Of course, she was not going to leave the poor creature she was trying to save, but the Witch did not know that.

She was working on pure instinct now.

It seemed to work. Hydia's face contorted and her long-nailed fingers gripped the parapet so hard they turned white.

"You foolish foal!" she screamed. "Don't you know who I am? Who my mother is? I will have you know that I have constructed this castle with pure magic, all mine!"

The Unicorn was quickly gaining confidence when she realised how much her dismissal vexed the Witch. She smiled disdainfully and waved a hoof toward the Smooze wave as though to chase off an inconsequential bug.

"That doesn't seem like such a huge achievement to me," she said nonchalantly, though inside she was frozen with horror. Where was she getting herself into, on her very first week of existence? "After all, all it really means you've been able to pile up a lot of stones on top of a lot of other stones. What's so amazing about that?"

The poor creature that had been running from the Smooze had by now inched its way next to the Unicorn, and was now tugging her by her little tuft of a tail. When the Unicorn turned to regard him, she saw that he was a two-legged being, like the Witch, but that he was not a human. She could not possibly know what he was, for she only knew of humans so far, and so she examined him curiously. The creature had an odd grey-green leathery sort of a skin, knobbly feet and a short, chubby form. He was also extremely ugly, or at least any human would have said so. He was wearing ragged clothes and his expression was filled with worry.

"You'll make her mad," the creature whispered hastily.

The Unicorn's expression turned kind for a moment.

"That's the whole idea," she said, winked and then turned to face Hydia again, knowing she could not have heard their conversation, standing so far away on the castle parapet. Even across the distance it was clear that Hydia was boiling with anger.

"I will show you the full extent of my might!" she shrieked. "Fine, you think you can beat my Smooze! Let us see if you can stand a duel with it!"

The Witch's lips were drawn to a malicious smile, but the Unicorn felt it only strengthened her courage. She lifted her little head proudly.

"I accept the challenge," she said regally, "but only if you swear that you will free this poor creature and let me go in peace if I win."

Hydia cackled an evil laughter.

"Fine!" she screeched. "You will lose anyway, so it makes little difference."

The Unicorn turned to the creature now, and tried an encouraging smile.

"Go to the edge of the woods and climb up a tree," she instructed him gently. "You'll be safe there, and if I lose - run as fast as you can."

The creature's eyes were wide and he was practically trembling.

"B-but... you... you would risk... risk your life for me? You don't even know me."

The Unicorn smiled again. She could sense that she had been right in coming to this creature's rescue. Her extraordinary senses told her that there was not an inch of dark magic in him.

"I know you're good people. That's reason enough," she said and then nudged him gently with her muzzle. "Go now." Then she turned proudly to face the hulking form of the Smooze wave. The creature hesitated for a moment but then scurried off up toward the woods.

And there the baby Unicorn stood, a tiny white figure in front of an enormous frozen wave of concentrated evil thought. Wind blew through her short white mane and tugged on the tuft that was her tail. Her bright blue eyes shone in the gloomy light that seemed to envelop the entire valley. And there was no fear in her as she faced the Smooze.

"Attack!" screamed Hydia, and instantly the wave rushed into action. It came crashing down on the baby Unicorn, its hungry gaping maw as dark as the heart of midnight. And even as it crashed down over her, the Unicorn did not even move to run. Instead, she closed her eyes and let herself remember the thought which had helped her to reach the creature in time earlier. She raised her chin a little, felt the darkness come closer, and closer, until it was all around her, almost touching her...

The shimmer and flutter of what felt like thousands of butterfly wings around her appeared again, and she smiled a little as she felt her body turn into nothing, dissolve into the air.

This time she felt the change happen and understood how it worked. She could feel her immaterial body as she escaped, in a flurry of a thousand sparkles, through open space, slipping underneath the wave. It was a strange state to be in, she noticed. It took her a few moments to settle herself onto this immaterial existence, and just when she had understood how it happened, she was material again. It became clear to her that she could not remain in her immaterial form for a long time. As she opened her eyes in her new location - some dozens of yards away from the Smooze - she also realised that the entire journey had taken her less time than winking would.

Winking... she smiled to herself as she chose a name for this new way of travelling. Winking. That is how she would call this new ability from now on.

It was obviously something completely new to Hydia. The Witch was gaping at her in total astonishment as the Smooze splashed into an ugly puddle on the ground where the Unicorn had been only moments before. It was clear she had not seen the Unicorn winking earlier, else she would have taken it into account. The Unicorn saw, with pleasure, how Hydia's expression grew furious and wicked, and she gestured to the Smooze angrily.

This time the Unicorn met the Smooze with confidence, and allowed herself a short moment of gloating before winking out, with a greater amount of ease this time. She reappeared to a place carefully selected this time, closer to the castle. The Smooze had anticipated her disappearance this time and was already careening after her. She smirked and winked out - just to wink in on the parapet right beside Hydia. The Witch had hardly time to realise what had happened when the Smooze was already diving into a full-on charge at the both of them. She screamed and raised her arms to protect herself and command the Smooze to freeze even as the Unicorn winked out again.

Inches from crashing upon the Witch herself, the Smooze stopped. The Unicorn, who was now standing outside the castle again, smiled confidently up to the Witch.

"I won," she declared. "I outran your Smooze - and tricked you, Witch of Gloom Valley!" Her bright blue eyes were full of steel as she stared up to the Witch. "Keep your end of the agreement."

Hydia's fists were clenched and she was trembling with rage, but she could not deny the truth. The Unicorn smirked and winked out, only to reappear at the edge of the woods, close to where the little creature was hiding. The Witch's curses rang out to them, but the Unicorn did not look back as she nodded to the creature and started walking through the forest. She was certain that Hydia would keep her promise and not send the Smooze after them. The Witch knew now that the Unicorn could escape the Smooze easily, and she was sure that Hydia did not care enough about the creature she had been chasing earlier to face another humiliation of failure.

She also knew, however, that she had just made her very first enemy.

"How can I ever thank you?" the creature she had just saved blurted as soon as they were a safe distance away from the valley, walking in the cool, quiet forest. "Grundle Prince forever grateful!"

The Unicorn looked at the creature, curious to find out more about him now that they were safe from immediate danger.

"Grundle Prince?" she asked.

The creature straightened his crooked back and pointed a thumb at himself.

"That's me," he said proudly. "I was captured by the evil Witch Hydia. She was trying to persuade me to give over my kingdom." He grimaced. "But Grundle Prince never gives up his kingdom. Well, that is, my father's kingdom. But someday it will be mine."

The Unicorn smiled and nodded. She found the Grundle Prince a little strange but sympathised with him immediately.

"I am... well, you can call me Unicorn," she said by way of introduction. She blushed a little. "I don't actually have a name yet."

"No name?" the Grundle Prince exclaimed and jumped a little. He shook his head furiously. "That's strange. Where do you come from?"

"Uh... I come from a meadow not far from here," the Unicorn said. It was the best answer she could come up with.

"Well, Unicorn of the Meadow," the Grundle Prince said good-naturedly, "if you're not in a hurry to go back to your meadow, I'd be honoured to show you to Grundleland and introduce you to my father." His expression grew a little more serious. "We don't meet many good hearts these days anymore."

The Unicorn nodded.

"All right," she said, and so she followed the Grundle Prince to his homeland.

* * *

Kimono looked at the baby ponies. They were staring at her with eager eyes.

"That's the Grundle Prince, isn't it?" one of them asked, pointing to a painting on one wall. It depicted a rather plump Grundle wearing a luxurious cloak and a golden crown. He would have looked handsome and regal had he not grinned so madly with his crooked teeth.

Kimono chuckled.

"Yes," she agreed. "He became later the King of Grundles. He was the first friend the first unicorn made."

"There were others?" asked the filly who usually did most of the talking among the baby ponies. "Tell us!"

"Next time, my baby ponies. Next time."

* * *

Author's Notes (EDITED): This chapter is an edited version, with some small modifications at the beginning of the chapter.


	3. A Few Good Hearts

Author's Notes: Revelations ahead! This chapter will let you in on some of the little twists of the world our little Unicorn has been born in.

* * *

**Chapter Three: A Few Good Hearts**

"You told us that there were going to be other ponies." The filly sounded a little surly. "Where are all the other ponies?"

Kimono sighed. She could tell that this filly was going to be a handful.

"They will come in time," she said. "The First Unicorn had many adventures before there were any other ponies."

The filly's face fell.

"So we have to wait for ever and ever?"

"I should hardly think forever," Kimono said, sounding just a little vexed. She asked herself whether it had been such a good idea to agree to this after all. She felt these kind of stories should have been taken seriously, and the baby ponies were so fidgety. "We will get to it in time, like I said."

"But wheeen?"

"We'll get there when we get there," Kimono said firmly and turned her attention back to the book, clearing her throat. "And now, where were we? Ah, yes, the First Unicorn arrives to Grundleland."

* * *

Grundleland was not an especially big kingdom. It was only one tiny valley on the other side of the mountains that surrounded the Gloom Valley. There was a small, humble castle, surrounded by a small group of huts. As the Unicorn approached the castle, she couldn't help but think that it looked almost as though someone had simply carelessly tossed stones on top of one another and then managed through sheer willpower to keep the entire construction from falling apart. She said nothing, however, for she did not wish to offend her kind host who seemed more than excited about showing his home to her.

It felt a little odd to the Unicorn that the skies had remained so gloomy and dark ever since she had left the meadow she had been born on. It was almost as though she had left from the Day and was now walking deeper and deeper into the Night. Even in the little valley of the Grundles, she saw nothing but black skies and dark clouds hanging overhead. This made her bristle just a little. There was something so very... wrong here. Everywhere. Ever since she had left her home. Still, she tried not to pay attention to it as the Prince of Grundles pulled her toward the castle.

The Grundles seemed like a nice folk. They all looked more or less like the Prince and came out of their huts rather warily, but as soon as they saw the Prince, they started shouting excitedly and crowded around him and the Unicorn. There were all kinds of shapes and sizes, and the Unicorn felt quite overwhelmed by the assault of knobbly arms and legs around her. At first, she had trouble figuring out which ones were the children and which ones were the adults. They all seemed alike to her. It became obvious that the smallest of the Grundles were the children, however, when one of the mothers hastily pulled back her son who had been about to come and touch the Unicorn.

The Unicorn met the Grundle mother's eyes quietly. Most of the Grundles were busy welcoming their Prince with many embraces, but no one had come two steps closer to the Unicorn. And as she looked at the female Grundle, clutching her son against her, looking at her... she realised there was fear in her eyes. They all looked at her with fear. She swallowed. This was not an emotion she was still particularly familiar with, and she could tell she would not particularly like it, either. She would have liked to say something, to ease their fear, to tell them she meant them no harm, but the sight of the mother and the child made words die on her tongue.

She knew, vaguely, what a mother was. She knew that a mother, to most humans, meant safety. It meant home, and it meant a beginning. It meant something you could always come back to, and something that would guide you, and help you. It was the first contact to other living things, and the bond between a mother and her child was the most sacred in the world.

She knew she had no mother. She knew that she had missed something else important as well. She had missed childhood. Despite her young age, there was no way for her to have that innocent period in her life anymore. Her very first wish had taken her beyond anything that might resemble a normal life. She had wished she understood, and her wish had been granted for her. Undoubtedly, it was because of that wish that she was still alive in the first place. It was because of that wish that she knew to eat, to drink, to bathe, to walk, to think. It was because of that wish that she knew things a creature of her age should never have known.

It was that wish that had robbed her of the time of innocence all other creatures in the world were entitled to. Even here, whatever this world was, she saw that children had mothers. Babies were born, and they grew. And their mothers protected them of the evils of the world until they were old enough to handle them.

She turned her eyes away from the Grundles, sadness gripping her heart. There was no one to protect her.

The Prince of Grundles was quick in reciting the Unicorn's apparently heroic deed to the other Grundles. There were a lot of "aahhs" and "eeehs" and as the story progressed, fear dissolved. In fact, many of the Grundles insisted on touching the Unicorn's soft mane, wondering at its silky quality. She felt quite self conscious; she admitted to herself that though she had wanted company, being the centre of attention still did not suit her especially well.

The situation did not get any easier when the Prince said he preferred to see his father in private.

"Ah, Unicorn... I hope you don't mind..." the Prince of Grundles said as they walked closer to the castle, the other Grundles bustling around them, "but I'd like to meet my dad... alone, you know. He thinks I'm dead. You understand..."

The Unicorn felt obliged to smile and say she understood though she would have rather told him that she minded very much. The Prince smiled happily, hugged her and then left her in the hands of an elderly Grundle female who was apparently the housekeeper of the castle. She smiled to the Unicorn kindly and motioned her to follow.

The Unicorn went with her, all too conscious of the eyes that watched her every step as she ascended the stairs into the castle. Once inside, she felt a little better and looked around curiously. The castle was not much prettier from the inside. She lingered a little in front of a strange-looking sculpture. She surmised it was some kind of a work of art, but it took her a moment to realise that it was in fact a likeness of a Grundle.

"Come along, dear," the housekeeper said from a nearby door, motioning to her again. "Here's a room you can rest a little. You must be tired."

The Unicorn smiled to her gratefully as she walked past the elderly female Grundle.

"Thank you," she said kindly. She looked around in the room. It was cosy and warm, with a fireplace and a comfortable couch. She walked to the couch and hopped on it happily. It was true that she was a little weary from all the walking she had been doing that day.

The female Grundle walked after her and went to a small chest that seemed to be filled with clothes. She chatted happily while fumbling through the contents.

"So, what kind of a creature are you, dearie?" she asked, not looking at her. "You look a little like a deer."

The Unicorn did not know how to answer at first.

"I... I'm a unicorn," she then answered, though she had to admit that the answer probably did not help much. These people obviously did not know what a unicorn was. "There aren't others like me."

The Grundle took out a blanket from the chest and shuffled over to her, looking sympathetic.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It must be lonely for you," she said, then her face brightened. "Still, I'm sure you'd get along with the deer nicely, you've got that horn and all. We've got a herd of deer just outside the valley, in the woods. We can show you where to find them later."

The Unicorn's ears flicked this way and that; she was not quite sure how she should have replied to the housekeeper. She was sure the female meant well, but her apparent decision that she was some kind of relation to the deer did not really brighten her up any. She only smiled and nodded when the housekeeper told her she only needed to holler as she left the room, saying she needed to help prepare a feast in the honour of the safe return of the Prince.

The Unicorn was left in the room alone, watching the flames and trying not to think just how alone she was.

* * *

The King of Grundles was a kind elderly Grundle of the age of 800. When the Unicorn jumped in surprise to the revelation of the ancient age of the King, all the Grundles seemed most amazed that she should find such an age very old at all.

"After all," the King of Grundles explained even as he chopped his steak with his knife and fork, "I know no creatures in the entire Realm of Dreams who would not live at least two hundred years!"

The Unicorn, who had received most of the wisdom she had so far gathered from the minds and hearts of mortal humans, was now quite fascinated. She had been introduced to the King of Grundles only when the Grundles had been ready to begin the feast, but she was not sorry. She had had the chance to sort out her thoughts while waiting for the feast.

"Really? And this... this is the Realm of Dreams?" she inquired, quite surprised that she had not thought of it herself.

The Grundles stared at her as though she was slightly daft.

"Yee-ees," the Prince of Grundles said. "Didn't your mum ever teach you anything?"

But this caused the Unicorn to look down with such a stricken expression that the Prince immediately felt sorry for what he had said. He opened his mouth to apologize just when the little unicorn looked up, her bright blue eyes betraying endless sorrow.

"I do not know my mother," she confessed. "I do not really... have a mother. One moment, I was not. The next moment, I was. That's why I said... I came from a Meadow. It is all I know."

All the Grundles let out a sad "aaawwwh", and she could feel several hands on her, patting her. The Grundles were obviously very sympathetic people. She felt better about it, even though she was sure they did not really understand. A little bitterly she thought that they were probably consoling her only because they saw she needed it. The King of Grundles looked very solemn now - something that looked slightly comical, since his crown hung on his other ear, looking as though it was contemplating jumping.

"I see you are something very special, Unicorn," he said. "I knew that already when I heard my son's account of how you had rescued him. But to hear that you know nothing of our world... that you simply appeared on a meadow one day... this makes me wonder. It makes me wonder indeed."

The Prince, who apparently wanted very much to impress his father, was trying his utmost to appear solemn too and look as though he knew exactly what his father was talking about. Unfortunately the lost expression in his eyes told the Unicorn that the Prince, though kind-hearted he was, was not the wisest of creatures and did not quite follow the King.

"Well," the Unicorn said, not willing to spill her secret of granting wishes in the fear of being swamped in trifle requests, "I do have some magic... but if this truly is a Realm of Dreams, surely having magic is not very exceptional."

"Not _a_, dear," the King corrected her gently. "It is _the_. This is _the_ Realm of Dreams. There is only one." He paused. "Well, in our universe, anyway. The Moochick did try to explain to me once that there is a possibility of other universes and other realities, but I didn't quite grasp the finesse of his logic. You had best ask him, if you want to contemplate the possible existence of another Realm of Dreams."

The Unicorn had now been flooded with quite a bit too much information and she stared at the King silently, trying to take in everything he had said as well as she could. She finally decided to focus on what she felt was the core of what he had said.

"_The_ Realm of Dreams," she repeated faithfully and smiled a little. "All right. Then, pray, what is so peculiar about being born out of nothing in the middle of the meadow in a place which is made out of dreams?"

The King's expression was kindly but serious.

"It doesn't happen every day that something is simply created out of nowhere, even in the Realm of Dreams. They say that once, a long time ago, something similar happened, but no one really believes into the legend anymore."

The King's eyes remained on the Unicorn for the longest of moments in silence, boring into her as though he were searching something. This made the little unicorn quite nervous, and she averted her own eyes, putting her muzzle down on her plate. She picked up some of the delicious salad she had been offered - compliments to the cook on the dressing, she thought - and tried not to look up as she chewed the food. When she looked up again, the King's expression grew softer.

"However," he said, a much lighter tone to his voice, "this is not the time to ponder upon legends. You have earned our trust and gratitude, young Unicorn! Enjoy your stay in our humble kingdom - we will try to offer you everything you may desire as best we can." He looked down on his steak again. "Skies know that we don't meet many good hearts these days."

That was the second time the Unicorn had heard this remark, and she frowned.

"Your son said the same thing when we met," she said, sounding quite puzzled.

The King looked up, seeming a little surprised - then, as though remembering, he smiled.

"Oh, yes... you wouldn't know," he murmured softly. His eyes looked down again, and it seemed as though the crown on his ear drooped a little more. "The Realm of Dreams has become a dark place as of late. More and more darkness and evil stirs every day."

The Unicorn's eyes widened.

"But why?" she asked, sounding aghast. "Isn't this where fantasies should flourish? Beautiful dreams and fantastic visions?"

The King shook his head quietly and a large tear appeared into one large, moss-green eye. The Unicorn felt horrible at having stirred such emotions in him, but before she could apologize, the Prince of Grundles replied to her.

"No one knows. Or at least, we don't. If anyone knows, it's the Moochick, but we haven't seen him in a long time. The path to the Mushromp has been blocked by a giant monster spider... and we Grundles are not a brave people." Nearly under his breath, aside to the Unicorn, the Prince added: "Father was Moochick's apprentice once. They haven't met now for over hundred years."

The Unicorn nodded quietly to the Prince of Grundles but her concerned eyes were on the King, who seemed quite taken over by his emotions now. Silently she watched the lonely tear trickle down on the King's cheek and fall from there, right on top of the half-eaten steak. She felt absolutely terrible.

"I'm so sorry..." she said, having quite lost her appetite for the delicious salad now. "I didn't realise... I suppose that Hydia character isn't the only evil witch going about, then?" She sounded almost miserable. She was but days old, and already she seemed to have been tossed in the middle of a war.

The King wiped his face a little and straightened his back, seeming to collect himself somewhat. He cleared his throat but didn't look at the Unicorn as he continued to eat.

"No," he admitted. "There are many evil witches, and wizards, and other dark creatures here now. It almost seems as though everywhere you turn, you meet them. But," he said a bit more brightly, "you needn't worry about all that. You've got that neat... what was it... blinking power?"

"Winking," the Unicorn almost whispered.

"Yes, yes, winking. That ought to get you out of just about any jam, I should think. Don't you worry, my dear, not at all."

But somehow the Unicorn could not help but to worry. She was silent for a little while, then she looked at the King more closely.

"Your Majesty... I wonder... perhaps I could help," she said carefully. "This Moochick seems like a wise man. I should like to meet him, and I could... I could take a message from you to him." _And ask if he knows what is going on in this Realm,_ she added in her mind.

The King looked at the Unicorn with a surprised expression which soon melted into a moved smile.

"You are truly a very special soul, my dear," he said with a voice so filled with emotion it seemed he was at the brink of bursting to tears. "Did you hear, my children?" he looked around the table. "The Unicorn has come to our aid. She will take a message to the Moochick. Perhaps one day light will shine again in the Realm of Dreams!"

A cheer rose from the feast table, and the Unicorn blushed as all those hopeful eyes were fixed on her, all faces shining with excitement. She felt rather embarrassed by the faith they all put in her and almost had a second thought about her offer. The Prince of Grundles stared at her with especial awe.

"Of course... I would need directions to find the... the Mushromp." She thought it was a strange name indeed for a great wise man to live in, but said nothing on that matter.

At that moment the Prince of Grundles stood up.

"I will take you there," he said firmly.

The Unicorn's eyes widened. She remembered well what the Prince had said about the Grundles not being very brave, and she had certainly not witnessed a great deal of courage in the Prince during their travel together so far.

"But... but Prince..."

But he wouldn't hear of it.

"You'll need someone who knows this world. Besides... I owe my life to you. The least I can do is to accompany you on this quest," he said and then looked at his father, who seemed the most surprised of all. "Father... you always wanted me to learn from the Moochick. Well... here's my chance."

The King's face was shocked at first, but then a smile found its way on his lips.

"I will equip you with everything you will need for the journey," he said solemnly.

The Unicorn had to smile also. She was touched by the gesture, since she would not have even dreamed of asking for such a sacrifice from the Prince. She inclined her head to him solemnly.

"I am most grateful," she said, then glanced toward the window, where the dark clouds were gathering. "We can leave as soon as the weather clears off a little."

The King looked sad again and shook his head.

"It won't clear off," he said. "It hasn't cleared off for several hundreds of years."

Now the Unicorn was completely amazed.

"But the meadow I was born on was bright and sunny."

All Grundles stared at her. The King looked shocked again, then an expression of awe crept on his face.

"I am beginning to believe," he said slowly, "that you have been sent here for a very special reason, my little unicorn."

The Unicorn's white cheeks turned again a shade of red and she wished she had never said anything. She realised only too late that with everything she had said, she was drawing all attention and, it seemed, focusing all hopes of the Grundles on herself. This made her uncomfortable as she felt she was far too young to be laden with such responsibility. My, if all these creatures trusted on her to save them... what if she failed? The thought sent creeping fear along her spine. She was beginning to like that emotion less and less.

Still, she couldn't let the Grundles down now that she had got this far. She looked down shyly and took another bite of her salad, hoping that the discussion would turn elsewhere.

The next day, the Prince of Grundles and the little Unicorn set out from the small kingdom of Grundleland toward the dark forest, through which they had go in order to reach the Mushromp. As they walked, the Unicorn felt the darkness press on her. Her heart seemed to feel all the heavier as she walked on, and it almost seemed as though the forest was growing darker on every step. She skipped carefully along the winding path the Prince was leading her on, and her ears twitched nervously.

The path grew darker and darker, until they suddenly realised they were walking among completely black trees. The trees were farther apart from one another, and there was less undergrowth, but they were the strangest trees the Unicorn had ever seen. Almost hairy...

Suddenly, one of the trees was yanked off the ground by what appeared like an invisible force, and both the Prince and the Unicorn jumped and stopped, eyes wide and quite aghast. Their eyes moved slowly up to where the tree had vanished.

The Prince screamed when he saw the raised giant leg and the bulging ugly eyes, glowing with a green fire as the monster spider considered what it meant to make its next meal.

* * *

"Kimono!" one of the baby ponies cried out.

Kimono looked up from the book and raised an eyebrow. The baby pony pointed at another baby, a little younger than himself, who had hidden behind a pillow and was shaking a little.

"I think Tribbles thinks it gets too scary," the baby pony said and looked at his shaking friend. Tribbles lifted up the pillow a little and looked up with eyes streaked with tears. Kimono stood up, worried, and came to the little filly.

"Oh, dear," she said and nuzzled Tribbles gently. "I think," she said softly after petting the little foal's head a little, "that it's time to stop for the night. It's getting late, and stories always seem more scary in the darkness."

"Awww!" some of the bigger foals objected, but Kimono shook her head.

"No objections! Come now, everyone, off to bed with you!" She smiled and started to shoo the little foals out of the room and then closed the door after her.

She did not realise that the Book of Dreams was left open on the floor.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yeah, we all know I'm going to do something with that book. ;) But that'll wait for next time.

Bonus points to whoever knows where I got the name for the baby pony. XD

EDIT: This is an edited version of the chapter. There's a few small scenes/elaborations added to the beginning of the chapter.


	4. The Daughter of Darkness

Author's Notes: Because I'm a copyright fanatic... I have recently read through some of the introduction to the MLP RPG End of the Dream and realised that the back story in that game shares a couple of features of the storyline I've created for the Birth of Dreams. I want to note here that the said RPG has not influenced my story in any way, as I have not been even aware of the game when I created the storyline for my story. Rest assured that the plot of the Birth of Dreams does not in any significant way follow the back story of the game. Any small coincidences are just that - coincidences. XD

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Daughter of Darkness**

The Book of Dreams lay forgotten on the floor. The sun shone brightly through the narrow, painted windows into the Dream Room of Celebration Castle, and in the rays of light you could see sparkling sprinkles of dust floating gently. The paintings stood each on their own place around the room, images of darkness and light, hope and fear. The large book lay spread out under the painting of a gorgeous white unicorn standing under a black sky, her sky blue eyes staring defiantly up to the gaping darkness behind her. On the pages of the book there were beautiful drawings of the same unicorn, standing under a giant spider. Beautiful blue handwriting was spread out over the pages of the book.

Everything was quiet.

The door let out the tiniest of creaks as it opened. A fluffy little pony head appeared in the slit between the door and the doorframe. The baby pony glanced behind her to make sure there wasn't anyone there, and then she slunk in and closed the door behind her. She was an earth pony like all ponies in Ponyville. Her coat was a shade of pearly purple and her hair was a cascade of shimmering orange, white, and dark pink. Her eyes were striped purple and pink and she carried a picture of a bouquet of orange-pink-yellow flowers on her left hip. She walked through the Dream Room quietly, her hoof falls sounding loud in the silent room. She didn't look at the paintings around the room - her attention was on the book. She circled it carefully, stepping lightly and gracefully, almost as though she was half floating through the air.

She paused in front of the book and looked down upon its pages quietly. And as she stared at it, colour suddenly started washing off her almost as though it had only been paint. Underneath the pearly purple was revealed a shimmering white of the purest new snow and the luxurious orange, white and dark pink became wonderful curly cream. A black horn sprouted from the baby pony's forehead and the fur on her feet turned black up to the knee. A diamond-shaped black blaze appeared on her nose and the flower symbol changed into a crystalline crescent moon, this time on both her hips. For a few moments the outline of this graceful, delicate pony shimmered and sparkled as though she were about to fade away, then her outline became fully solid as the rest of her disguise faded off her.

The baby pony sat in front of the book and stared down its pages eagerly. Her now deep silver eyes seemed to almost glow with excitement as she leaned over the book.

Then, suddenly, her ears went up and she lifted her eyes. She had heard a noise. She listened a while longer, then realised the noise repeated in quick intervals - footsteps! The little filly quickly got on her feet again and closed the book with a hasty hoof, then picked it up - quite awkwardly, as it was a large book and she was a small baby pony - and started to make her way to one of the windows. She put the book against the wall under the window and then started to pry the window open with her little hooves.

"Baby Romperooni?"

The white little unicorn jumped and crouched beside the window as though fearing an attack. The voice of an adult mare could be heard from the door, and another little creak could be heard as the door was opened.

"Baby Romperooni, you know the Dream Room is off limits to baby ponies without adult supervision," Kimono's matter-of-fact voice sounded as she pushed the door fully open and trotted in, looking around, expecting to see a glimpse of the purple baby pony she had seen sneaking into the room. She stopped abruptly in her tracks when she spotted the little baby unicorn crouching under the window.

Her eyes went very wide.

"You're not Baby Romperooni," she whispered. _Moreover,_ she added in her mind, _she's not even an earth pony!_

The little unicorn glanced at the Book of Dreams and then at the window, before her wide silver eyes returned to Kimono. Kimono followed her train of thought easily. Her eyes grew sterner and she took several steps forward.

"I wouldn't bother, if I were you," she said, guessing well that the purpose of this baby pony had been to steal the book. "There's a spell on that book. It cannot be taken out of this room."

The little unicorn shrank a little and looked so miserable that Kimono's heart melted a little. She found it hard to believe that this innocent-looking creature would have been a thief. And then, why would she have tried to do something like that? The Book of Dreams had no other value than all the knowledge of the history of their race. To Kimono personally, that was one of the most valuable things in the world, but she couldn't imagine anyone wanting to attempt to steal the book for it.

"I wasn't going to steal it," came now the quiet voice of the baby unicorn. "I was going to return it after I'd read it."

Kimono was quite puzzled now. She could not see the baby unicorn very well from the shadow she was crouching in and for the strange way her outline seemed to shimmer almost like she was about to disappear, and she got a feeling there was something very odd about her.

"But my dear child," she said, "why would you even bother to borrow it without permission like this? Surely you have your own storytellers at the Crystal Palace?"

The baby pony was silent for the longest of moments. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, obviously concentrating on something. Kimono squinted her eyes at the unicorn, trying to make out what she was doing. But, oddly enough, the more intently she looked, the less she seemed to be able to see of her. The air around the baby pony seemed to almost swallow her, beginning from her edges and deepening toward the middle core of her body, until she was inexplainably practically invisible.

Kimono was too surprised and amazed to do anything when the baby pony suddenly dashed up from the shadows, starting to run for the open door. Halfway through the room she stumbled, however, and let out a little cry as she dove nose first on the floor. The part of her body which had turned transparent quickly shimmered back, and now Kimono could see her in full light.

The older pony's eyes widened even more and she gasped. She had never seen a pony with black markings before. In fact, she had never seen a pony with even a single black spot on her entire body. Black was not a pony colour. This did not happen. Or it had happened, but only twice. And it never meant anything good. Kimono's entire body went limp when she realised just exactly what she was looking at.

This was a descendant of the Black Pony.

She was just about to open her mouth to shout, "Hold it right there!" when the little unicorn turned on the ground, holding her other forehoof with the other, and whimpering. There were great big tears in her silver eyes, and Kimono's heart was instantly filled with sympathy for the baby pony. She had clearly hurt her foot as she landed on the floor, and was now sniffling pitifully, unable to continue her escape. Kimono studied the little unicorn quietly for a long moment, hesitating. She could not imagine how such a small, fragile creature could be evil. And yet, she had the markings of the Black Pony on her...

"I'm sorry," the little unicorn then sniffled, looking at Kimono with eyes filled with fear and pain. "I didn't want anything bad to anyone... I just wanted to read about the past. They would never let me into the Crystal Palace and my mother wouldn't..." She hiccuped. "Wouldn't tell me anything. She thinks it's not important. I was going to return it after I'd read it... Don't hurt me, please!"

She started to cry. Now Kimono's heart melted completely. She walked to the little one and brushed her muzzle over her gently.

"Ssh, there there, my little one," she murmured and placed her hoof kindly on the little unicorn's back. "Calmly now. I'm not going to hurt you." Kimono nuzzled her once more. "My name is Kimono, I'm the Keeper of Dreams in Ponyville. Do tell me, who are you?"

The baby pony looked up at her, her silver eyes still filled with tears but a little less afraid now.

"Crescent Crystal," she said quietly.

Kimono nodded and suddenly realised who she must be. She was familiar with the name.

"You are Dark Crescent's daughter, aren't you?" she asked gently, feeling immense sympathy toward her even as she felt a twinge of fear. If she was Dark Crescent's daughter... her mother may be looking for her already. Should she have hurried to the town hall and warned the other ponies? Ponyville had never suffered an attack during its short but happy existence, and she wasn't sure how the townsponies would take to being warned of danger like this.

Crescent Crystal sniffled a little and wiped her eyes with one hoof.

"Y-yes," she said very, very quietly. "But mom doesn't know I'm here. She'd be furious if she found out."

Kimono pondered if she dared to trust the baby pony's word for it. She was willing to believe that Crescent Crystal did believe herself that her mother didn't know her whereabouts. However, Kimono was well aware of the dark mare's ability to see beyond normal bounds. What would Dark Crescent do if she knew where her daughter was right now? Would she come claim her? Would she think they had kidnapped her? What would she do? Kimono shivered.

But then she looked at the foal again. The large silver eyes glistening wet with tears. And she sighed.

"Well, if you're sure..." Kimono shifted her hooves. "Come, I'll take you to the city limits. You can find your mother and..."

"No, please, I want... I want to know," Crescent Crystal interrupted, looking anxiously at Kimono. "About... about the past."

Kimono looked at the foal. She was confused. The foal seemed to understand this and swallowed.

"I want to know... why." She looked down. "I want to know why the darkness wants me." And she looked at Kimono with large, deep eyes that reflected sorrow and confusion.

This made the elder mare's heart melt completely. No foal this young should suffer from the kind of burden that hung over this little unicorn's shoulders. Kimono knew, as the Keeper of Dreams, all about the Dark Mare and her legacy. She knew Crescent Crystal's ancestry. But as she looked into the foal's clear silver eyes she realised that the foal herself didn't know.

Who was she to deny her the knowledge of where she was coming from, and who she truly was?

Reluctantly, but inevitably, Kimono nodded.

"All right," she said quietly. "You may stay and listen with the other baby ponies. But you understand... for everyone's sake... can you, can you do what you did earlier again? Become invisible? Or..." she hesitated a moment, "take someone else's appearance?"

She hoped and prayed that that was what the little foal had done to make her think that she had seen Baby Romperooni. She decided she would check up on Baby Romperooni's room as soon as she had dealt with Crescent Crystal. For the time being, she would give her the benefit of the doubt.

The little unicorn smiled at once happily and nodded.

"I can hide in the shadows," she said confidently.

Kimono nodded slowly. She considered the question and finally decided on a plan.

"All right. You can join the others at the Story Club. But stay silent and make sure you aren't seen."

The foal looked at her seriously and calmly, nodding. She looked so adult and mature right at that moment that it made Kimono feel uncomfortable.

"Can I stay here?" Crescent Crystal then asked, looking around her in the room. "I... I'd like to look at the pictures, and catch up on the story."

Kimono saw the excited, dreamy look in the foal's eyes as her eyes fixed themselves into the beautiful painting of the white unicorn. The older mare's lips curved to a gentle smile. She suspected she was being too kind and gullible, but she could not bring herself say no to this poor child of darkness.

"I will lock the door," she said, conscious of the fact that even if Crescent Crystal was but a foal and that everything in that room had been enchanted, she could not trust her completely. She knew that Dark Crescent had been dangerous, dark enemy already when she had been a newborn. "But you can stay." She turned her eyes on the foal's injured hoof. "I will fetch something so that we can take care of that."

Crescent Crystal nodded absent-mindedly, her eyes still lingering on the painting. Kimono smiled sadly and then walked out of the room. At the door she paused for one more moment, looking behind her - to the small, pale ghost of a foal lying in the middle of the Dream Room. As the sunlight, filtering into the room through the painted windows, glimmered on the creamy curls and glistened on the white fur, Kimono could not help but think that to have this little unicorn in the room was like having a breath of real magic there. Kimono had longed for magic her entire life.

Swallowing, Kimono turned and stepped out, closing and locking the door behind her. She could only pray she had made the right decision.

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, there you have it - a small detour from the Birth of Dreams, but I wanted to introduce Crescent to you at this stage. You will see later how the past and the present of Ponyland ties together. :)

EDIT: This is an edited version of the chapter, with small modifications here and there; nothing huge though.


	5. The Mushromp

Author's Notes: This is an extra-long chapter, on account that our little Unicorn has a lot to learn when she reaches the Mushromp, so be patient! I daresay it's worth it in the end. ;) Oh, and hugs and kisses to my faithful readers/reviewers, especially Del Schiz and Jelly Wombat! Your comments keep me writing!

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Mushromp**

Kimono was all too conscious of the hidden pair of silver eyes that were watching her from the shadows when she entered the Dream Room the next time. The baby ponies chatted happily and bounded playfully to the pillows, squabbling over a few of the softest and fluffiest of them. They did not know anything was wrong. Kimono glanced toward the shadows in the corner, beside a table, where she knew Crescent Crystal sat watching them. She could not see anything, though once she thought she saw a fading flicker of creamy curls, disappearing into the shadows. The mare felt hot sweat prickle behind her ears as she took out the Book of Dreams and placed it on the floor. How would she ever explain this to the Mayor if something happened?

"Settle down, settle down!" she told the baby ponies, with an oddly pitched voice. She cleared her throat and continued, with a more normal voice: "Settle down, so we can continue the story."

Baby Romperooni, the mouthiest of all the baby ponies, hushed the others loudly.

"I wanna know how they kicked that spider's ass!" she hissed at the others. Kimono screwed up her nose and looked disapproving.

"Baby Romperooni, mind your tongue or I'll have to excuse you," she told her curtly.

The pearly purple filly flattened her ears and placed her head on top of her pillow, burying her muzzle into it. "Msorry," she muttered into the pillow.

Kimono nodded and turned to the book. She tried to forget about the eager silver eyes she could feel upon her and pretend they did not exist. Briefly and guiltily she wondered just how many other ponies pretended that she did not exist.

* * *

"Ahgg!" screamed the Prince of Grundles, slapping his hands on both sides of his head, frozen to the spot. The Unicorn flattened her ears and crouched backwards, but she forced herself to keep a level head. This was no time to panic.

"Calm down!" she told her companion.

"No, I mean, Ahgg!" the Prince of Grundles said. "That's what the Grundles call him."

"Oh..."

But the giant spider leg was already coming down on them, and the Unicorn saw that the leg held a deadly spike at the end, one that would easily run them both through. She knew she could have winked away, but she could not leave the Prince.

"Run!" she shouted and pushed the Prince out of the way. The spike made an unpleasant chinking sound as it plunged deep into the earth just a few inches from her hoof. She let out a cry and pushed herself into motion, galloping alongside the Prince. There were no trees now, and they were out in the open, running right toward a small gorge which, as the Prince had told her, would lead to the Mushromp.

"We can't outrun him!" the Prince said breathlessly as they ran, hearing how the steel-like spiked legs of the spider chinked into the earth time, and time, and time again as the giant monster took off after them. The baby Unicorn glanced behind her and saw, her heart sinking, that he was right. They had ran a good dozen leaps but it seemed that the spider would easily catch them with just a few strides.

"Keep running," she told him. "I'll fight him."

The Prince looked at her, horrified.

"You can't!" he said, shocked.

"I can, I can wink around him, he'll never catch me. When you're far enough, I'll join you."

"But..."

"Just go!"

And she stopped and whirled around on her hooves. The spider was fast upon them, its giant green eyes glowing. The Unicorn waited until he had almost caught her, and then winked out. She appeared again to the right of the monster on a little ledge on the cliffs.

The monster did not even blink or slow down. His eyes on the little Grundle, he plunged forward. The Unicorn was aghast. She had never considered the option that the spider might not pay any attention to her. Either he was smarter than she had thought, or his one-track mind liked to keep on the easiest target. She could not tell; but the monster would soon catch up with the Grundle Prince.

The Unicorn winked out quickly again and reappeared next to the Prince, again pushing him out the way when the giant leg came down. The both of them rolled on the ground, then the Unicorn was up again, and leapt aside when another enormous leg snaked down on them.

"We're going to die!" wailed the Prince as the monster spider picked up two forelegs and prepared to lunge down on them again. The baby Unicorn shook her head, slightly irritated by her companion's lack of courage.

"Hush, we won't," she said and kept a wary eye on the spiked legs, gleaming in the dim glow of the dark sky. Her mind was working furiously. What could she do? Her eyes darted around them, trying to find a place to hide. Perhaps, with a little extra time...

Then, suddenly, the giant spider let out a terrible scream, and the claw that had been about to strike again was yanked upward. The Unicorn looked up, amazed. She thought first that what she saw was a giant bat coming down on the enormous spider, but then she realised that the beast had feet and arms like a human. The spider screamed with pain as the new creature, whatever it was, lunged at its head again. The Prince of Grundles stopped wailing and looked up, his eyes wide with surprise. The giant spider shook his head, and managed to throw away the bat-like beast. It somersaulted and then stopped to float a few feet above the Unicorn and the Prince. As it turned its head to look at them, the Unicorn gasped. The creature was the most terrifying sight she had ever seen - truly a beast. He had a strange, snout-like head and small, squinted eyes. His body was covered with fur and he had clawed hands and feet. A row of sharp teeth showed from under a curled lip. He was not beautiful, but there was a certain stout dignity about the way he carried himself which instantly impressed the Unicorn - even if it frightened her as well.

The beast looked down.

"You, the horned one!" he shouted, and his voice was gruff and deep but by no means unfriendly. "Go for the legs! I'll take the head!"

The Unicorn was not sure why she trusted this new acquaintance, if not for any other reason than because she saw no other choice. The spider was coming at them again, this time its gaping maw, full of sharp teeth, going for the flying creature. The beast lunged again for the monster's eyes, and the Unicorn did not waste time.

"Try to hide somewhere!" she shouted over her back to the Prince as she leapt forward, going for the legs as the flying creature had instructed her. She jumped up and wrapped her hooves around the nearest leg. Hanging on to dear life, she sunk her teeth as deep into the hairy, black leg as she could. It did not seem to have much effect: in fact she could not even break the skin. Desperate, she looked up to where the beast was darting this way and that, avoiding the flailing claws as he tried to poke at the monster's eyes. "This isn't working!" she shouted up at him.

The beast looked down.

"Not your teeth, your horn!" he shouted, sounding as though he thought she had been missing the obvious.

The Unicorn's eyes went wide.

"My horn?"

"That pointy thing! On your forehead!" the flying creature cried, sounding exasperated, as he darted away from yet another flailing claw.

The Unicorn, still holding on to the leg, felt both embarrassed and horrified. The thought of using her horn on the spider had never even occurred to her. She did not like the idea of staining her horn on another being's blood. She looked up at the beast again. The spider's claw missed him by an inch, and she realised that even though he had wings and could move fast, he could not best the spider alone. And then... her eyes shifted to where the Prince of Grundles was making his way toward some large boulders, to hide. She needed to do it, for her friend's sake if nothing else.

Her jaw set and a determined look in her eyes, the baby Unicorn arched her neck and jutted down her head. She lunged her little horn forward with all her strength - and it sunk in deep, like knife through butter. The leg onto which she hung shook and trembled. The monster spider howled with pain, and the Unicorn could feel something warm and sticky oozing down along her face. She closed her eyes as tightly as she could, quivering with disgust. Above her, the flying creature lunged at the monster again, going for its eyes.

Now, finally, the monster turned. Howling and growling with pain, it started to move back toward the forest in which it had hidden. The Unicorn dared open one eye.

"Let go!" she heard the beast shout. "Let go of the leg!"

Realising that the monster was, indeed, fleeing, she quickly released her hold of the leg. Her horn came out easily, and she fell to the ground. Her hooves over her head, she cowered as the giant spider rampaged over her. Only when she felt the quaking of the earth fade away did she open her eyes and look up. She could see the black, horrible figure of the monster disappearing into the forest ahead. She swallowed. She did not like the feeling of the warm, quickly drying blood all over her face. She could only imagine how her horn must have looked. She trembled a little as she thought back on how easily the horn had penetrated the monster's flesh. She had never thought that her horn might have been used as a weapon so easily.

There was a thud right next to her, and she jumped a little, looking up at the bat-winged beast, her eyes wide. There was a quiet look on the snouted face, and the yellow, beady eyes examined her in silence for a little while.

Then the creature took a knee in front of her and extended his hand to her to wipe her face gently around her eyes. She closed her eyes and allowed him to wipe away the blood. When he stopped, she opened her eyes again and looked at him.

"Th-thank you," she said quietly, her eyes filled with wonder. His outer appearance was frightening, with the fanged snout and slanted, beady eyes. But in those eyes and on that face there was no threat, no danger. Only... sorrow.

"You're welcome, Horned One," he said with his deep voice. Then he inclined his head. "My name is Scorpan."

The Unicorn was quite impressed by the stranger's quiet, calm air and dignified manner. She smiled shyly.

"I... I am..."

"Unicorn!" the Grundle Prince's voice shouted from behind them, and the baby Unicorn turned to look at the small, knobbly creature running toward them. The Prince of Grundles was pale and when he stopped close to them, breathless, he looked distinctly embarrassed. He shuffled his feet and could not meet the Unicorn's eyes. "Are you... are you all right?"

The Unicorn smiled.

"I'm fine, Prince," she said kindly, guessing that he was ashamed that he had run. She turned her eyes back toward Scorpan, who stood now, looking at the Prince.

"Prince? Prince of Grundles?" Scorpan asked, recognition flickering in his yellow eyes. "Well! I haven't seen you since you were a newborn baby on your father's arms. What are you doing all the way out here?"

The Prince looked up at Scorpan, puzzlement written all over his face. It was clear that he did not recognise the bat-winged beast.

"We're on our way to meet the Moochick," the Unicorn explained. "We have a message for him, from the King of Grundles."

Scorpan's face became very serious now, and he nodded.

"I see. That explains why you took on the spider like that. It was foolish of you. If I hadn't been nearby, you would have been killed."

The Unicorn shivered.

"What... what is that thing?" she asked. "It doesn't... it doesn't look exactly like a spider."

"It's one of the Witch's creations," Scorpan said. "The Witch of the Mountain of Gloom has created many dark things." He looked anxiously toward the forest. "He will not stay away long. Soon he will forget the pain and remember the delicious feast he lost. Come, I will take you to the Moochick."

The Unicorn nodded and got on her feet and started to follow Scorpan and the Prince, who started to walk through the gorge. As she walked, she brushed her head against her other foreleg to wipe away the blood. It left a red streak on her snow white fur, and she stared at it awhile. She had never seen blood before, and the sight made her shiver. She had spilled blood. She could feel it staining her horn still, and as she tossed her head, she felt her gory fringe flop lifelessly on the side of her face. She grimaced. The filly wondered if she'd ever feel clean again.

Scorpan took them at a good, even pace through the gorge, down a few cliffs and over a small river. By sundown they reached the Mushromp. The landscape had been growing steadily more lush and vibrant as they went along, and by the time they reached the Mushromp the Unicorn saw the first truly beautiful landscape since she had left her little meadow with the blue flowers. The deeper they entered into the Mushromp, the better she seemed to feel. It was as though the dark cloak which had enveloped her during their journey was suddenly lifted, and her step was lighter again. She started to smile without realising it. It felt almost like coming home.

The Mushromp seemed to consist of very large mushrooms. The climate was humid and warm, and everything was growing in bunches and tussocks here and there. The largest red flowers she had ever seen decorated the pathway through what seemed like the city of giant mushrooms. Scorpan led them quietly to the largest mushroom of them all. It had a white base and a red top with white speckles, and the Unicorn, who knew very little of mushrooms, thought it looked rather pretty. Around the giant mushroom there was a small garden, with a wooden fence around it and flower beds everywhere.

It took a moment for the Unicorn to realise that the giant mushroom was, in fact, a three-storey house, two storeys in the base and one in the top. There was a white-painted wooden door and red window frames with flower pots on every sill. She looked at it all with delight as they approached the eccentric house. She had never seen anything like it, and she loved it at the first sight.

"Scorpan!" a voice sounded from inside the mushroom house. It was a friendly voice, and the Unicorn was not surprised when a plump, kindly looking man walked out of the house and down the few steps to the yard. He was elderly and leaned heavily on a knobbly wooden staff as he walked, but he had a gentle expression on his white-bearded face. He seemed quite human-like, except for his remarkably short size and pointed ears. His green beret hung carelessly on one ear, and he squinted toward the Unicorn and the Prince curiously as he stopped a few feet outside the door. "You bring friends? Why, it's not even my birthday yet. Is it? I forget."

For the first time during their short acquaintance, a smile appeared on Scorpan's grizzly snout, though it was a tired, unhappy smile.

"No, these are unexpected friends, Moochick," he said. "They say they bring a message from the King of Grundles."

The old elf's face brightened and he threw up his other arm - the one _not_ holding the staff - happily.

"Anyone who comes with that name on their lips is welcome to my humble home!" he said eagerly and motioned them closer. "Come, come, tell me your names - oh, no, I know who _you_ are!" He was looking at the Prince. Now that they had got closer, he obviously saw them better. "You must be the young Prince! My, you've grown! The last I saw you you were but a baby. This tall." He showed a height of approximately one third of himself with one hand. The Unicorn had to smile. "But now you're, why, you're taller than me, aren't you? My, how the years go by. Tell me, my boy, how's your father?"

The Prince smiled a bit nervously and presented a clumsy bow, obviously uncertain if that was required.

"He's well, Master Moochick, sir," he said, nodding. "He said he hopes you're well too. He's sad that he hasn't come to see you in all these years, but he's old, he says, and the journey is so long."

The Moochick smiled kindly. He seemed to understand. He patted the Prince on the shoulder.

"I know, I know, my boy. The times are unkind."

"The King of Grundles also asked to tell you, Master Moochick, sir, that we lost the Grundle Pass to the Witches," the Prince said. He looked down and shuffled his feet, looking most uncomfortable. His voice grew hardly audible. "_I_ lost the Grundle Pass. And I was captured by Hydia."

He glanced at the Unicorn, and she realised, for the first time, just how ashamed he was. The Prince of Grundles was not a brave lad, and despite the fact that he came off goofy, he obviously knew his failing all too well. There was compassion in the Unicorn's clear blue eyes when she met the Prince's gaze, and she thought she saw a flicker of gratefulness before the Prince turned to look at the Moochick again.

"The Unicorn saved me," he said, nodding. "She defeated the Smooze and turned it against Hydia at the Castle of Gloom Valley."

"The Unicorn, eh? And who is... oh, my." The Moochick had turned toward the Unicorn now, and seemed to notice her for the first time. His almond-shaped eyes went very wide. The Unicorn tried to look modest at first, but when the old elf continued to stare at her, she began to feel quite uncomfortable and shifted her forefeet delicately. She inclined her head a little nervously.

"Pleasure to meet you, Master Moochick," she said uncertainly.

He finally moved, but not to say something, but rather to come closer. The Unicorn started back at first, but stopped herself firmly. She did not want to seem like she was trying to run. She stood uncomfortably as the Moochick came close, face to face with her - he was small enough to stand only a little taller than her even though she was but a baby. He stared at her intently in the eyes, and then raised up one trembling hand, to place it on her muzzle. She did not stand back, though she half wanted to.

"How remarkable," he murmured and ran his fingers over her snow white, blood-stained muzzle. "And what is your name, my dear?"

"I... I don't have a name, really," she said, wondering if she would dare to pull her muzzle away from him.

"Oh?" the Moochick sounded surprised, and the tone of his voice suggested a plea for further information. The Unicorn felt a little exasperated that she would have to go through the explanation one more time. Before she could begin, however, Scorpan interrupted them.

"Perhaps we will exchange tales a little later, after our guests have had a chance to wash themselves from the travel and the rabbit has made some supper."

The Moochick nodded, looking quite absent-minded, and let his hand fall from the Unicorn's muzzle.

"Quite," he murmured, then turned and started to limp back into his house. "Quite... remarkable."

Scorpan looked at the Unicorn who peered after the old elf with a puzzled expression, but he said nothing as he followed Moochick indoors. The Prince, however, moved closer to the Unicorn and poked her on the shoulder.

"Moochick is a little eccentric," he explained to her.

She looked at him and smiled a little. She said nothing. She had many questions for the Moochick. She only hoped he could answer them.

Inside, the Unicorn and the Prince were instantly met by a rabbit almost as tall as the old elf, and as tall as the Unicorn. He held the door open politely for them, and made a bow as soon as they were inside. The Unicorn smiled to him, though she was rather surprised to see him.

"Hello..." she began, but the Moochick, who had made his way to a large wooden table in the middle of what seemed to be a combined living room and dining hall, waved his hand.

"Habbit doesn't talk, my dear," he said. "It's too bad, of course, since it means I need to do all the talking, but there you have it. Habbit, go ahead and prepare rooms for our guests - something from upstairs, I think, but not the attic. And make sure there's some bathing water."

The rabbit nodded and started off, up the stairs in the small hall which seemed to connect the living room and a kitchen. The Unicorn peered up the stairs but there was a door at the top, and she could not see what the upstairs looked like. She was quite impressed nevertheless. She took a peek to the kitchen and saw that it was a homely, small room with just the essentials. It was also spotless, from what she could tell, and everything there seemed to be in strict order.

The Prince went ahead into the living room, looking like he did not know which way to be. The Unicorn followed soon after, looking around the living room with curiosity and wonder. Scorpan had vanished somewhere inside the house as though he quite owned the place; the Unicorn wondered if he did not like company, or if he had some business to attend to. He had never introduced himself further, and it was a surprise to the Unicorn to realise that he lived in the Moochick's house. Who was he? She would have liked to ask, but she thought it was rude to pry.

Suddenly she became aware of a pair of eyes on her and turned her eyes from the grandfather clock she had been examining. As she looked across the room, she saw that Moochick was watching her intently. His staring made her feel very self-conscious, and she turned her eyes back on the clock, hoping that he would quit doing that.

There was noise from the stairs, and the rabbit reappeared into the room. He gestured to them and the Unicorn threw a smile to Moochick as she started to walk toward the stairs. He smiled also and nodded.

"Habbit will fetch you down for supper," he said, and the Prince bowed once again.

Upstairs was just as cosy as downstairs had been. There was one more flight of stairs after the first, but Habbit would not take them there. Instead, he turned to the small hall around the stairs and hopped to a door at the far end. He opened it and gestured to the Unicorn. She went to him and stepped into the room, curious. Inside, she saw a cosy room, equipped with a simple wooden bed, bedside table, a small dresser and a chair. There was a chest in one corner and a bath tub in another. The warm glow of the setting sun seeped through the stained glass window, creating gentle red and orange light in the room. She smiled, delighted, and turned to thank the rabbit. He inclined his head politely and then hopped to the tub. He turned on the taps with exaggerated movements, his intention obviously to show her how it was done. She blinked as she watched. She saw no pipes going out or in to the taps. There was just the tub, standing on its four curved feet, not connected into any sort of plumbing. And yet, as Habbit turned the taps on and off, water poured out, bubbling happily.

This was the first time since her encounter with Hydia the Witch that she had seen magic of any kind. Fascinated, she walked closer to the tub and examined it. It was a little worn down and looked quite old. There really did not seem to be anything at all out of the ordinary about it - except for the obvious fact that it could produce water without being connected to any kind of pipes.

"How remarkable," she murmured, echoing the Moochick purposefully. There seemed to be more to this simple mushroom cottage than met the eye.

"I'll see you over supper." The Prince's voice jolted her from her thoughts. She turned her head around to look at him, and nodded with a smile. After showing her the bunch of towels on the little chair, the rabbit hopped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

The Unicorn turned her eyes back on the tub. A smile curved her lips as she reached up and turned the taps on to produce just the right mix of hot and cold water. She planned for a nice, long, relaxing bath.

* * *

The knock sounded from the door just as the Unicorn was wiping her horn into the towel. It felt as though she would never get it clean, and she sighed as she shook the towel off her head.

"Yes?" she called over her shoulder and shook her mane. The white fluffy hair felt silky and soft now that it was clean, and a ripple of pleasure went through her. It was nice to look presentable again.

The door opened, and the rabbit came in. He smiled to her and nodded his head. Behind him stood the Prince of Grundles - though the Unicorn might have been hard-pressed at that moment to recognise him. He had clearly also washed himself, combed his hair and was standing more rigid than before. His crooked legs straight, he seemed much taller. The Unicorn looked at him curiously. It seemed like the Prince wanted to impress the Moochick.

"You look nice," she commented as they both followed the rabbit downstairs.

The Prince looked down and tried to smoothen out his jacket a little.

"Well, I thought... I mean, Master Moochick is an important man, a great wizard, and I thought... do you really think so?" He looked at her anxiously, a hopeful look in his brown eyes. She smiled to him gently.

"I do," she confirmed, and as she said it she realised she really thought so. During their short acquaintance, she had learned to look past the knobbly, malformed-looking body, leathery skin and crooked teeth. Inside, she saw a young man who desperately wanted to impress those he admired. He was not strong or brave, but he had a good and kind heart. And the Unicorn had already learned that that was something that was hard to come by in the Realm of Dreams these days.

They arrived back to the living room, and the Unicorn had to be quite impressed over what Habbit had apparently achieved in such a short while. The table was filled with all kinds of delicious things, ranging from salad to chopped pork. The Moochick was sitting at the table already and smiled happily when he saw them.

"We weren't sure what you ate," he said to the Unicorn as they approached the table, "so we prepared a little bit of everything. I do believe you're related to horses, are you not? Horses, from my experience, don't eat meat, but of course you might be an exception."

The Unicorn blushed as she chose a chair and hopped to sit on it.

"I prefer something... greener," she said, hoping she would not be terrible trouble. "The salad looks delicious."

The Moochick smiled and motioned them to start eating. The Prince, who had taken a seat opposite to the Unicorn, grinned and started choosing food on his plate at once. It was then that the Unicorn realised that the grizzly winged beast had not joined them for supper yet.

"What about Mr Scorpan?" she asked.

The Moochick grew more serious and shook his head.

"Scorpan... he likes to eat alone," he said. "You will excuse him, he prefers his privacy."

"Oh." The Unicorn started looking around on the table for some tasty bits. The Prince had blinked and stopped midway on his intention to grab a chicken wing.

"Scorpan? That's who it was? What's Scorpan doing here?"

The Unicorn looked up; she was surprised to realise that the Prince hadn't caught Scorpan's name until now, but she was even more surprised to find out that he knew something about the bat-winged beast. She felt she had so much to learn.

The Moochick looked calm as he picked out food for himself from the table.

"I'm happy to find that you have heard of Scorpan, my boy," he said. "You were only a newborn when you met him. I wasn't sure if you knew about him."

The Unicorn felt far too left out now.

"Excuse me," she said carefully. "But I don't understand what you're all talking about."

An odd red-green shade flushed the Prince's cheeks.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, seeming embarrassed. "I keep forgetting... Master Moochick, sir, the Unicorn doesn't know much about the world yet. She was born only a... a week ago?"

The Unicorn nodded and looked at the Moochick. His brows were arched high, and she sighed when she realised she would have to relate to him where she was coming from - once more. So she told him all about the meadow and how she had just appeared there one moment.

"I know that... that someone wished for me," she said quietly, staring at her plate. "A little girl, a human. And I can hear the wishes of humans, if I really concentrate. But I don't quite understand... I don't know what it _really_ means. How it fits into the big picture. How I fit into the big picture." She looked up at the Moochick, hope in her clear blue eyes. "I hoped... you might have been able to tell me."

The Moochick looked at her quite seriously now. His eyes examined her with the same intent look as before. She shifted a little, but did not remove her eyes from his. She knew she had not told him everything. She had not told him that she could grant wishes, her own and those of others. She had not told him that she could meet humans in their dreams. She wondered if he could see it. His eyes seemed to penetrate her very soul - did he know she had left something out?

"I see." The Moochick's voice was calm and thoughtful. "You know of the human world, then, but nothing of your own? This is most... peculiar."

The blank expression on the Prince's face indicated that he understood nothing of what they were talking about. It occurred to the Unicorn that he might have never heard of the human world, or humans. She was relieved to find that the Moochick, had, however.

"I have learned a lot lately," she said quietly.

The Moochick's kindly face wrinkled up with a smile.

"I'm sure you have, my dear," he said gently. "But don't be afraid - the dark cannot get to us in the Mushromp."

"The Moochick's magic protects us," the Prince of Grundles chimed in, obviously eager to join in the conversation now that he spotted something he could respond to. "He's the most powerful wizard in the world."

The old elf chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know about that," he said. "But there's still a few good ones left in this old staff." He shook the wooden staff that leaned against his chair.

The Unicorn smiled though she was a little disappointed that the conversation was turning away from her. She had hoped for answers - now she feared the Moochick might not have them. She thought back on the sweet valley she had left behind. The meadow and the blue flowers. She had been happy there. She had had everything she might have ever needed, right there. There had been a little brook through the valley, and as much grass and flowers as she could ever eat. She had to wonder if she should never have left. What Moochick and the Prince said about the Mushromp made her think of the possibility that it had been her magic that had made the lovely valley so lush and verdant. What had happened to her home since she had left? Would it wither and grow dark like everything else in this Realm? Suddenly she felt herself so homesick that it became difficult to eat the lovely vegetables on her plate.

The Moochick and the Prince did most of the talking during the meal. The Moochick wanted to hear all about what had happened in Grundleland for the past hundred years while the communications had been cut off. It dawned on the Unicorn while she listened to them talk that the Prince of Grundles must have been one hundred years old since Scorpan and Moochick had last seen him a hundred years ago, and he had been only a newborn at the time. It still felt odd to the filly how they talked about a hundred years as though it was only a short turn of a decade, but she supposed she could not blame them. With the minimum lifespan of two hundred years, one century did not feel as long. She ventured to ask how old the Moochick was; but the old elf confessed he had lost count a long time ago. The Prince of Grundles maintained that he was two thousand years old, and the Moochick seemed happy with the estimation, but it made the Unicorn feel a little dizzy nevertheless.

After the supper the Moochick invited them to sit for a while before going to bed. They gathered round the fireplace while Habbit proceeded to clear the table - the Unicorn felt she should have helped at first, but when she saw the rabbit gesture to the dishes until they floated up from the table and followed him to the kitchen in a single file, she changed her mind. The Prince was yawning when he sat on the armchair. The Unicorn walked as close to the fire as she dared and cradled her feet under her to lie on the warm fur rug in front of the fire while the Moochick chose another armchair close to her.

By the time Habbit had cleared the table, the deep breathing from the other armchair indicated that the Prince of Grundles had fallen asleep. The Moochick looked at him with a smile.

"It's been a taxing day for the Prince," he said kindly as he looked at the young Grundle. Then his eyes turned to the Unicorn, more serious. "You know that the Grundles are not a very brave people. Confronting the monster must have been hard for him."

The Unicorn met the Moochick's eyes soberly.

"I begin to understand why the King of Grundles hasn't visited you in a hundred years, Master Moochick," she said. She might have been surprised that the Grundles had not made any attempts to cross the gorge, since, with their superior numbers, they would have had a good fighting chance against the monster, but she had already come to realise that the main reason keeping the Grundles prisoners in their little valley was their fear.

The Moochick smiled.

"Yes," he said, and the Unicorn was not sure whether he answered her words or her thoughts. She averted her eyes and stared into the fire for a few moments, quietly.

"Master Moochick..." she then began, encouraged now that they could speak alone, "do you have answers for me?"

She turned her eyes to him with a quiet, almost pleading look. The old elf's face was motionless for a while.

"I always say," he then said slowly, "that for true wisdom, a learner must find out the answers for himself." Her heart sank, but just then the Moochick raised up one finger. "However... I might not be able to tell you who you are, but I can tell you where you are. And to know where you are... is a good place to start finding out _who_ you are."

Those words forced a smile on the Unicorn's lips. She looked at him more confidently. She saw the wisdom in his words, and instinctively she knew that he was right. The only way to find answers about yourself was to look for them yourself. No one else could do it for you. The Moochick answered her smile, and in that moment a silent understanding spread between them. She was confident he would teach her whatever she wanted to learn and whatever was in his power to teach. It was the best deal she could hope to make.

Her very first question came quickly to her.

"The King of Grundles said something," she said. "He said that there's a legend... that once, something else was born out of nowhere, just like me."

The Moochick nodded sagely.

"Yes," he said. "It's a tale not many remember anymore. But the King was always a good student. A good student." He looked down for a moment, sadness on his face, then he straightened himself again and looked at her. "That something was not a living thing. No one really knows just when it happened, only that it was long before any one of us was born. No one alive can remember far enough to know when it was, but the when is not important. What is important is that this object has greater power than anything in the world - our world, the human world, or any other world I know of. That object was the Flashstone."

The Unicorn was listening intently now, though she half wanted to break in and ask what other worlds he knew of. She held her tongue; there would be time to explore other worlds once she had learned to know her own.

"The Flashstone is, in many ways, a representation of what the Realm of Dreams is all about. No one knows the limitations of its power, if indeed it has any. We do know that it can make things happen. With it, an ordinary man could do... anything." The Moochick seemed solemn. "But no one was allowed to, because the power of the stone was too dangerous in the wrong hands. The Flashstone was the sacred stone of the Realm of Dreams, and it was protected by the greatest of the peoples that ever lived, the Pennas. I'm too young to have lived when the Pennas still guarded the stone, but I was told by my master, who was born during the sunset of the Age of Pennas, that it was a glorious time. He always said he never felt right ever since they were gone, even though he never lived to see them flourish at their prime."

The Unicorn was completely enthralled by the story.

"What happened to them?" she asked with a hushed voice.

The Moochick seemed sad.

"Times much like these came," he said. "Darkness began to spread in the Realm of Dreams. And then... then Grogar came." The Moochick's expression made it clear that the very name was like a curse to him. "Grogar is the ruler of the Realm of Darkness. It is another world, interconnected with ours. Every so often, darkness grows in our world so strong that a portal opens, and Grogar can use his powers to join our two realms. Almost three thousand years ago, if my memory serves me right, Grogar brought Tambelon, the Cursed City, through the portal. He meant to destroy our world and enslave everyone he could catch. And he stole the Flashstone."

The Unicorn gasped, horrified. The Moochick looked grim.

"It was only because of the Pennas that the world survived. They combined their powers and met Grogar in a bitter battle. Their leader, Ruff, managed to get the Flashstone back." The Moochick looked down. "It was a desperate moment. He knew that should Grogar ever get the stone back he would not fail again. The stone could not be destroyed fully, but it could be broken. Ruff broke it into two halves, his intention no doubt to hide them into separate places so that they would never be found again. Grogar, however, managed to wrestle the other half from him and Ruff had to flee to keep the other."

The Unicorn shifted nervously.

"Then... how was he vanquished?"

"The Pennas sacrificed their lives to push Tambelon back through the portal and seal it," Moochick said quietly. "The Flashstone would not work without the other half, or Grogar hadn't learned to use it yet. He was vanguished."

"But not forever," came a sudden gruff voice from the door. The Unicorn jumped a little and turned to look. She saw the bat-winged creature in the doorway, leaning one clawed hand on the doorframe. There was a bitter expression on his face. "He'll return, soon. I can feel it."

The Moochick was silent as Scorpan stepped into the room and started to walk toward them.

"We can't be sure about that," the Moochick then said quietly.

Scorpan grimaced so that the row of sharp teeth showed. The Unicorn shuddered and cowered instinctively.

"_I_ am sure," he said spitefully. "The darkness is spreading. What else could it mean?"

Scorpan went down on one knee in front of the fire, right next to the Unicorn. His yellow eyes were fixed to the fire and there was a grim expression on his face. The Moochick watched Scorpan quietly with a knit brow. The Unicorn shifted a little.

"You must forgive our friend's pessimism," the Moochick then murmured. "He lost his kingdom twenty years ago and hasn't been the same since." A smile quivered on the Moochick's lips briefly. "Although pessimism has, admittedly, always been a personality trait of his."

Scorpan glanced at the Moochick over his shoulder but said nothing. The Moochick looked more serious.

"My friend," he said gently, "you will frighten the young one."

Scorpan seemed like he was about to argue, but then he glanced at the Unicorn and his jaw set tighter. He locked eyes with the filly for a moment, a dark look in his eyes. Scorpan's brow remained furrowed for a moment, then it cleared, and a sigh escaped his lungs as he turned his head away. His yellow eyes were filled with sorrow so deep that it chilled the Unicorn to the very soul. She gulped and turned her eyes down.

"It's getting late," the Moochick said, getting up from his seat. He leaned his weight on the wooden staff and held his back a moment, then straightened it with a moan. "I think... I shall take the young Prince to his bed." He started limping from the firelight toward the door, snapping his fingers as he went. The Unicorn watched with awe as the Prince's sleeping body floated up from the armchair and began to follow the Moochick toward the door. "Good night, friends."

Scorpan said nothing, but the Unicorn smiled.

"Good night, Master Moochick," she murmured, then looked at the grizzly creature next to her. His eyes were still on the fire, unmoving. The Unicorn hesitated for a moment, then shifted her position and stretched out her legs a little. The Moochick's steps were on the stairs already, and soon faded altogether. She looked at Scorpan and then cleared her throat. "So... You and the Moochick seem like you're good friends."

Scorpan did not even move for a moment. At first the Unicorn thought he was not going to make a reply at all.

"He's been like a father to me." Scorpan sighed. "He offered me a home when I lost my own."

The Unicorn looked at him quietly. She felt compassion for this beast-like creature.

"What... what happened? The Moochick only said that you lost your kingdom. Were you... were you a king?"

"I _am_ a king," Scorpan's voice came out low, growling, and the Unicorn saw his fist press against his forehead. His eyes closed, and a sigh escaped from his wide chest. "I am a king," he repeated, more quietly this time.

The Unicorn looked down.

"I'm sorry..." she began, but he shook his head.

"No, _I'm_ sorry," he said silently. "I'm just... frustrated. The Moochick is right. I haven't been the same since my kingdom was taken from me." He sighed and wiped his forehead with the furry backside of his other hand, and then lifted his eyes up to the fire again. "Once... I sat on the throne of the Midnight Castle."

The Unicorn jolted a little from the name, but Scorpan seemed to sense her surprise and smiled ruefully.

"Not everything that has a dark name is evil." He met the Unicorn's eyes. "The Midnight Castle was the fort of Light while I held the throne. Twenty years ago my brother Tirak betrayed me and stole the crown from me."

The Unicorn's eyes widened.

"Your... brother?" she whispered.

Scorpan nodded, looking bitter.

"We grew together," he said. "We didn't have the same parents, but we were blood brothers. I trusted him. I never guessed..."

His eyes dropped to the floor and the Unicorn felt swelling compassion for him as she watched a large, liquid teardrop fall on the fur rug. Quietly, she got on her feet and closed the short distance between them. Her soft muzzle pressed against his cheek, caressing. Scorpan turned his grizzly snout and met her eyes. They shared a moment of quiet understanding, and, slowly, the expression on Scorpan's eyes changed. Gratefulness was reflected in the slanted yellow eyes as a clawed hand came up and settled on the Unicorn's neck.

"You're a brave child," he said gruffly. "Braver than your age. When I ordered you to attack the monster spider... I didn't realise. I didn't realise how young you were."

The Unicorn avoided his eyes. She preferred not to remember the feeling of the warm blood on her little horn. Scorpan's clawed hand caressed her neck gently, then he smiled ruefully and pulled away. The winged beast stood.

"Good night, little Unicorn," he said quietly, and then turned.

The Unicorn watched Scorpan walk to the door and disappear into the stairs. She listened to his footsteps and watched the empty doorframe, her ears twitching this way and that as thoughts swirled in her mind.

* * *

Kimono pushed the book closed with one hoof and looked around her. Steady breathing filled the Dream Room, and she smiled gently. All the baby ponies were lying on their pillows, their eyes closed, sleeping soundly. Her eyes turned toward the corner where she knew Crescent Crystal to be. A faint outline of a baby pony was barely visible, and she could see a pair of clear silver eyes stare at her from the shadows. Her smile faded. Had she made the right choice in allowing the baby unicorn remain there?

Sighing to herself, Kimono turned and picked the book from the floor. She put it back into the cabinet and locked it. The story was done for the day.

* * *

Author's Notes: You may want to keep an eye on Scorpan there. Hehe. Oh, and don't hold your breath waiting for him to turn into a human... he was born the way he is now. In fact, forget just about everything you remember from the Midnight Castle episode in the Hasbro series. We'll say they got it all wrong. ;)

Soo, how did you like the extra-long chapter? Scorpan? The Moochick? Habbit? Review is love, so love me:D


	6. Darkness Rising

Author's Notes: I still update the story here on though everyone who have found this story from MLPArena will know that it has its own website these days. The story will be updated to both places until the end, however. FF is being funny with adding links though - won't let me add a link to the chapter here, but I hopefully managed to add a link on my profile page.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Darkness Rising**

Kimono was pleased to notice that most of the baby ponies had missed only a small section from the end of the last session of the Story Club. It did not take her long to recap, but after that she examined the Book of Dreams for a little while, frowning. The next several pages dealt with the details of the Unicorn's life while she studied the Realm of Dreams under the Moochick's guidance. She was sure none of it would hold the baby ponies' interest for long. Her other ear flicked toward the corner where she could still feel the intent silver eyes staring at her. She guessed that Crescent Crystal would not have minded, but then, the little unicorn was not an average baby pony.

"I think we will skip ahead a little now," she said aloud as she flipped a few pages. "The Unicorn stayed with the Moochick and learned a great deal about the world. She learned that the Realm of Dreams had been getting steadily darker and darker for the past several hundred years. She learned that the Witches from the Mountain of Gloom had begun to expand their territory now that Hydia, the older, meaner witch's daughter was coming of age. She learned that the Grundles had held their small kingdom for several generations but that they had not existed at the time of the Pennas. She learned that the only one to have been alive at their time, to the Moochick's knowledge, was His Elevated Eminence, the Moochick's own mentor."

"The mountain was the Moochick's mentor?" Baby Romperooni asked, sounding shocked.

Kimono looked at her with a flicker of a smile on her lips.

"Yes," she said matter-of-factly. "What's so strange about that?"

Baby Romperooni shuffled her hooves.

"We-elll, he's a mountain. He can't, he can't like, move."

"Why should he move to be able to teach?"

Baby Romperooni's brow was furrowed and she seemed to think hard for an answer. After a while she had to shrug.

"I guess no reason," she said finally.

Kimono smiled and turned back to the book.

"Now, as I said, we will skip ahead... to the time when the story _really_ begins, if you will." She flipped a few more pages, until she found the place she had been looking for. "Here. The Unicorn is now twenty years old."

"Has she made any more wishes?" Baby Romperooni asked eagerly.

"No."

"Are there any other ponies yet?"

Kimono looked exasperated.

"No, not yet. Now hush, and I will tell you what happened."

All the baby ponies grew quiet. A faint shadow moved slightly in the corner, but no one noticed it.

* * *

It was a clear, beautiful morning. The kind of morning on which you feel as though the whole world has opened her arms and welcomes you with a warm embrace. The skies were blue, bluer than the Unicorn's eyes, and the white clouds moved slowly, leisurely, across the vast expanse. Only at the far horizon the skies turned darker, more ominous. Dew glimmered on the surface of the mushrooms, causing the entire Mushromp sparkle in the sunlight.

The Unicorn could easily think that it was the most beautiful place she had seen since leaving her home meadow, which, to her, was the most beautiful place of all. She lay comfortably on the roof of the Moochick's house, her white long mane curled over her neck. It was not fluffy anymore. It was like the finest silk, brilliant and shiny. Her legs were longer and her body was more slender, graceful. Yet, though she had grown older, her appearance remained youthful, fresh like the early morning dew. Only her eyes betrayed an older soul.

She felt older. She had never been a youth the same way most creatures were young. She recalled her own regrets over never having a childhood. Her regrets that she could never be like everyone else, and the burden of being special. The burden of being alone, the only one of your kind. She had still not figured out if she had a greater purpose. She knew that she had been born on a moment in time when the Night threatened to engulf everything. She knew that the world needed heroes. But had she been meant to be a hero? What should she do?

She had finally confessed to the Moochick that she could grant wishes. He had not seemed surprised. He had told her that she had done the right thing in keeping it to herself. There would be many, he told her, who would seek to use this power against her, or worse yet, against the whole world. She had ventured to suggest that perhaps she could wish the Realm of Dreams free of the darkness. He had adviced her against it. He reminded her that the last time she had used her powers to wish something for herself, she had had to pay a price. It was no coincidence that her eyes had turned blue. He surmised that it was a mark that she had used up some of the space she had left for her own wishes - perhaps even lost some of her magic in the process. And to wish for something as big as ridding the world of darkness... he said he suspected it would drain every ounce of magic she had, perhaps even take her life, and even so it would probably not be enough. He reminded her of the tale of the Pennas, and how it had taken an entire race to vanquish the Lord of Darkness. What made her think she could do something similar - with just the power of a wish?

She had to admit he was probably right. Next, she had asked to grant _him_ that wish. Though she had never got the chance to actually do it, she knew she could do greater things for others than she could for herself, and that they drained her less. Perhaps if he wished for the darkness to go away, she could make it happen. He had only looked at her and told her it was too dangerous. Then he had told her that she had a long way to walk on the path of wisdom, and would speak no more of the subject.

The Unicorn had not attempted to talk Scorpan or the Prince of Grundles into making the wish, but she had often considered it. Of course, she could not be sure if it would even work, since she knew that any wish she would grant would have to be a True Wish - a wish that stemmed from the very heart. She still often thought it could not hurt to try. It annoyed her that the Moochick had not even talked with her about what might happen if she tried her plan. She did not often resent her mentor, but this time she felt he was wrong. She felt that he thought that she was a child. A child! She had never been a child in the first place.

She sighed, her eyes on the dark clouds that loomed far away in the horizon. She felt so frustrated. For twenty years she had lived on the Mushromp, studying, and yet she felt as though she had learned nothing. She had studied the maps of the Realm. She knew where the Midnight Castle was - she could just see the black outline of the turrets in the horizon, where the dark clouds were, if she strained her eyes. She knew that the Valley of Gloom had once belonged to a herd of deer. They had grazed on the lovely meadows and bathed in the fast-flowing river, until Hydia had come. She knew that Hydia was the only daughter of the evil Witch of the Mountain of Gloom, a feared old hag who had been terrorising the Grundles for years just for fun. She knew that the Smooze was a weapon of a frightening magnitude, comprising of evil thought so concentrated that it had taken on a physical form. She knew all this, and more, and yet she had not found out what her purpose here was. If her powers could not defeat the darkness, then what good could she be?

To make matters worse, she had been plagued by nightmares lately - ones she could not change, no matter how hard she tried. It was a new experience to her, and one that frightened her. Dreams had always been her domain; she could light even the darkest of dreams and make it sweet and calm. She had done this to many human children. Now she dared not enter human dreams anymore, for the fear that she had lost the power of dreams and might even make the children's nightmares worse. She had been seeing the same nightmare for a week now, and it was getting steadily worse. She shuddered a little at the recollection.

"I know what you're thinking." Scorpan's voice carried to her, and the Unicorn was jolted from her thoughts. The large winged beast shifted a little on the mushroom surface, and the Unicorn glanced over at him. During the twenty years she had spent at the Mushromp, they had often sat together on the roof, talking, or just sharing quiet moments of contemplation. Sometimes they were quiet so long that she forgot he was there.

"Oh?" she asked, not sure at all if he knew. He was a good friend, but his mind often worked differently from hers.

The two of them had spent much time on exploration trips outside Mushromp. Scorpan never seemed to feel comfortable enough anywhere to stay put for long, and the Unicorn accompanied him because she liked to see more than just the maps. He never took her very far, and would often leave her behind for hours, saying he wanted to check something. She had insisted to follow, but he had taken off on his wings and she had had no way to force her company on him. Still, he always returned, and though he never said where he had gone she could guess. His eyes never strayed far from the distant silhouette of the Midnight Castle, looming high on top of a mountain. Even now his eyes were fixed to the familiar black spot you could tell was a castle only if you know what to look.

"It's getting colder," he said as an answer. "I've felt the chill in the air for a week now."

She was surprised; this was not even close to what she had been thinking. But now that he had said it, she noticed it was true. She had unconsciously cradled her feet closer to her body and twisted her tail around her for warmth. It was chillier - not cold enough for the dew to become frost, but definitely there was a cooler breeze going through the Mushromp than ever before. This concerned her. She had seen winters, of course. There was one every year, and she had enjoyed romping in the snow with the Prince. It had been especially fun to close her eyes and hide into a pile of snow, where she would be invisible for her brilliant white colour, and then jump on the Prince, unawares. She had even jumped on Scorpan once. He had surprised her by leaping out of the way and turning at her with a snarl and battle-ready claws. It had been only her winking power that had saved her from being badly scarred. He had seemed embarrassed by his reaction but had not apologized. She had never tried jumping on him again.

Yes, she knew winter. But it was not the time for winter yet. They had just barely cleared spring, and the days had been warm for weeks now. She had just started to look forward to midsummer, because they had planned an expedition to Grundleland at that time. The Prince missed his father; he had not seen him for over fifteen years now, because the travel back and forth between Grundleland and the Mushromp was too taxing for him. The monster spider Ahgg had become more irritable of late, and it was not as easy to scare him as it had been before. They preferred not to risk the trip anymore. Still, the Moochick was of the opinion that the Prince had now learned everything he had to teach - privately the Moochick confessed to the Unicorn that there was really sadly little he could teach to the inattentive Prince - and the Unicorn and Scorpan had promised to take the Prince safely back to his home kingdom. There would be a feast for sure, and the Unicorn had looked forward to socialising a little.

"It isn't supposed to get colder at this time of the year," the Unicorn said, concerned. She flicked her tail, turned her ears this way and that, and finally shook her mane as though she could that way shake off the worry. "I'm sure it's nothing. Just a little change in the weather."

Scorpan said nothing, but the Unicorn knew he did not agree. Scorpan was always looking for signs. She admitted it got a little tiring sometimes, but she could not blame him. He had never really talked about what had happened when Tirak had betrayed him, nor had the Moochick revealed anything - he said it was not his place to tell this tale - but the Unicorn was not stupid. She knew it had been a shock to Scorpan, and probably crushed his faith in the ultimate goodness of people. This was one of the things that struck a wedge between the Unicorn and Scorpan; the Unicorn always liked to think the best of everyone, while Scorpan always expected the worst.

"You know, closing your eyes and pretending that the signs aren't there isn't going to make them go away," Scorpan said just then, almost as though he guessed where her thoughts were taking her.

The Unicorn glanced at him from the corner of her eye, refusing to face him directly. She could not say anything. The nightmare came to her mind again but she tried to push it back.

"Signs can be misinterpreted," she said finally.

Scorpan let out a low growl.

"You sound like the Moochick," he said darkly.

This time the Unicorn turned her head to look at him in the eyes. The expression in her eyes was cold. She was deeply offended.

"I didn't know you thought that was a bad thing," she said, even more unkindly than she had meant.

Scorpan would still not look at her. His face remained a mask of anger for a while, but then his brow cleared a little and he sighed, letting his eyes finally drop from the silhouette of his old home.

"It's all just so... frustrating." He shook his head. "It's been forty years, Unicorn. And there's still this weight on my heart I can't shake."

Now the Unicorn's expression softened. Pity filled her. She knew exactly what Scorpan referred to. She often wished he would talk about what had happened to him, if for no other reason than to get it off his chest. Sometimes she suspected he had never even told the Moochick everything. There was a scar in his heart, one which he refused to let heal.

"His betrayal must have been very painful," she said tentatively, hoping to lure him to talk more. She knew he would know who she referred to. She often suspected Tirak was all Scorpan ever thought about.

Scorpan was quiet for a while. The Unicorn waited patiently. His friend was in the habit of pausing for a long time whenever he found it hard to talk about something. She hoped he still eventually would.

"We were like brothers," he said finally.

The Unicorn had to stifle a triumphant squeal - it seemed she had got through his defenses at last.

"You told me you grew up together," she said, hoping to encourage him to continue.

"Yes. He was orphaned when he was little, and my parents took him in. Tirak never seemed to envy me, though he was always proud. I guess that's why it all came as such a surprise. I never guessed... You know, had I known he wanted the throne so badly, I might have given it to him. He always made a better Prince than I did." It seemed that once he had started talking, Scorpan could not stop anymore. The Unicorn could hear the pain in his voice. "You know, I think that many people would have welcomed him as the King if I had renounced the throne in his favour. He was always popular in the court, more so than I was, anyway. I've never really liked parties. He was always the one who made everyone laugh. All I ever did was make everyone feel uncomfortable."

The Unicorn felt the need to argue, but she found it hard to come up with anything to say. It was true he made other people feel uncomfortable. It was because he was always so serious, so pessimistic, so sceptical. For every white cloud Scorpan would always find two dark ones. He never could see the silver lining and always expected the worst.

Then again... in the end, was that such a bad quality in a King, after all?

"Being able to make people laugh doesn't make one a good King," she said. "Being a King isn't about being popular, Scorpan... you must know that."

Scorpan sighed and said nothing for a while.

"I know," he then said, his voice more silent than before. "You know... everyone always loved Tirak. He was handsome and strong. Strong of mind and body. Even I admired him. I never guessed... I never guessed that underneath all that, his heart was twisted and dark."

_Things aren't always what they seem,_ the Unicorn thought to herself, her eyes fixed on Scorpan's hulk. The beast was by no means easy on the eyes, and she had not been surprised to see the Grundles flee in fear fifteen years ago when they had taken the Prince of Grundles to see his father. He looked like a demon with his narrow, yellow eyes, ugly snout and clawed hands and feet. Yet, underneath the frightening exterior, there beat a kind and good heart, a strong heart. She was sure Scorpan was ten times the King Tirak could ever be.

"He envied your throne," she said. He nodded.

"He had planned the coup for years. I was a fool not to have noticed, but Tirak was always a good actor. He had made a pact of some kind with the Witches and received dark powers from them. I know it for sure now. I've seen the Witches enter the Midnight Castle many times since Tirak became the King. It was with their help he dethroned me."

Now the Unicorn could be sure he had indeed been flying to the Midnight Castle to spy on Tirak, just like she had suspected, whenever he had left her behind.

"But... why didn't your people do anything?" the Unicorn asked, a little confused. "Surely they wouldn't worship a Dark Lord?"

Scorpan shook his head.

"They didn't know he was using dark magic at the time," he said. When the Unicorn looked even more confused, a grim smile tugged at Scorpan's mouth. "He put a spell on _me_, Unicorn. It happened at a party. I was sitting on my throne, as usual, when he came to me. He leaned over me... that's when I saw it for the first time. The hunger in his eyes. I started to ask what was wrong, but he spoke some words... strange words... and..." Scorpan looked away. "I don't remember much of what happened after that. They say I acted like a raving beast. I had attacked him, apparently. Everyone thought I had gone crazy. Tirak had ordered me to be taken to the dungeons. It was easy for him to convince everyone that I was out of my mind. I'm sure he pretended sad when he assumed the throne. No doubt he planned to murder me before the spell was over so that I wouldn't have the chance to defend myself."

The Unicorn was shocked beyond words. It took her a long moment to be able to speak.

"Wh-what happened?" she asked, compassion swelling inside her. She could only imagine how terrible Scorpan would have felt over Tirak's betrayal.

"A faithful servant - a good friend - helped me to escape. He was the only one who guessed that something had to be wrong." Scorpan sighed. It was one of those sighs that seemed to rise from his very soul. "He paid for it with his life. The spell was still on me, I... I must have killed him in my madness. All I remember is coming out of the haze, his dead body in my claws."

A great liquid tear rolled down Scorpan's cheek, the Unicorn could see it though he tried to turn his head away. The Unicorn did not know what to say. His guilt was like a heavy blanket in the air, weighing on her shoulders. She searched for the right words, but they would not come. She felt a lump in her throat. What could she say? She could not prevent the incident during the winter flashing through her mind. Scorpan had turned to fight, perhaps to kill, when he had been startled. And now she heard that he had once killed an innocent man, his friend... it had to unravel her a little.

Still, she could feel his guilt hanging in the air. The Unicorn could see, and feel, how terrible he felt. And regret was the best proof that that madness did not truly live inside him. Had he not stayed his hand the moment he had seen it was the Unicorn who had startled him?

"It wasn't you, Scorpan," she finally managed. "It was the spell."

But the bat-winged beast shook his head.

"They were my hands, Unicorn," he said. "My claws."

The Unicorn had no answer. She could not argue with this simple truth.

"That's why I couldn't go back," Scorpan continued, wiping the tear from his cheek. "They found me with the body. I had to escape. Had I let them take me prisoner, Tirak would have sentenced me to death for sure. They wouldn't have believed me."

The Unicorn now understood. It was one thing, after all, to suddenly behave like a madman. To become a murderer - now, that was something completely different. If Tirak was half as good at persuading people as Scorpan let on, he would have had no trouble in arguing against Scorpan in a situation like that. Of course, when he had then fled the situation had been made worse. Only guilty ones flee, do they not? It was a simple assumption, and so often the wrong one. The Unicorn had to see this. During her stay at Master Moochick's house, she had been introduced to a vast collection of legends and stories, and she had learned that the mind worked often under false assumptions.

She looked at Scorpan. He stared somewhere into the distance with eyes that had no expression. His mind was elsewhere, far away, in a past he would have done anything to change. The Unicorn could see that, and her heart wept with him.

"We will get your throne back, Scorpan," she said, feeling the need to comfort him and hoping this might be the way. "We'll make it all better, somehow."

Scorpan shook his head.

"Don't waste your efforts on me, Unicorn," he said darkly. "I'm not the king I used to be. Lately I've come to suspect I never was what I thought in the first place."

The Unicorn shook her head in firm disagreement.

"You need to have faith, Scorpan."

He met her eyes. The yellow slits reflected only pain, and it hurt inside the Unicorn. She had grown very sensitive toward other creatures' emotions, even so much that she could feel their pain and joy inside her if she cared enough of them. And she cared very much of Scorpan.

"I don't have any faith in myself," he said, shaking his head.

"Dream, then." The Unicorn lifted her head, her ears turning gracefully forward, her clear blue eyes open and inviting.

Scorpan could bear to look at her beautiful, innocent face for but a moment.

"I've forgotten how to dream, Unicorn," he said gruffly, turning his face away as though he was trying to hide a scar. The Unicorn had the feeling he was - even if the scars were only in his mind. She looked at him, wavering for just a moment. She recalled the dark dreams she had had lately. She recalled her own fear of going to sleep and felt her insecurity over her existence and her powers again. Who was she to tell Scorpan to dream, when she was losing that ability herself?

She dropped her eyes on the smooth surface of the mushroom roof. There was the faint mark where his teardrop had fallen. Scorpan did not cry often, and when he did it was only a teardrop or two. But the amount of tears he cried were a poor reflection of the amount of pain he carried inside. This pain, the Unicorn could feel it, ate him up from the inside. It had already taken from him the faith he had in being a good king, a better king than the one who now sat on the throne of the Midnight Castle. Eventually, bit by bit, it would devour his soul.

The Unicorn raised her head. No. She could not allow it. A strength and a resolve she had not known existed inside her rose and expanded until it filled her every fibre. She rose on her feet and moved quietly across the roof over a few speckles that separated her from her friend and there she stopped. Once again, like in the memory from a past that felt like yesterday, she reached out her muzzle and pressed it against his cheek, gently. But this time she had words.

"Dream with me, my friend," she whispered to his ear. Scorpan shrank away, but when she would not pull back, he stopped. He turned his head to look at her. For a long moment he only looked at her clear blue eyes. She faced him, letting him see what he wanted. Her heart was open for him, and her soul radiated the warmth and strength that was in her. At first there was a lost expression in his yellow eyes, then it was replaced by wonder and even awe as he saw her for what she was. He saw the luminous star that was her soul.

"Oh, Unicorn..." Scorpan murmured, closing his eyes. His furry arms wrapped around the slender neck of the Unicorn, and he rested his head against her neck. She responded to the embrace by arching her neck over his shoulder and pressing her head against him. He clung onto her and she could feel he sobbed a little, but these were good tears. She said nothing and allowed him his moment of weakness. The pain had to be allowed outside.

The Unicorn closed her eyes and focused on the warm feeling inside her. It was something she had nearly forgotten when her nights had become darker with the nightmares and her days dimmer with the fears. It was love.

"Oh Unicorn, I wish..." she heard his voice, "I wish I could go back and change it all."

For a fleeting moment she froze. It was as though a bell rang inside her at those two words - "I wish". Should she? Could she?

She closed her eyes. She had to try. She focused on the power inside her, the bright star that was her heart, the core of her soul. She let it envelop her until she began to glow. She opened her eyes and looked up. There was her star, it appeared on the bright morning sky, just for her. Her wishing star. She took a deep breath, feeling the power pulsate in her veins. It was as though every hair on her fur vibrated, she was electric... and she released the magic. It connected with Scorpan, she could feel their souls touch for the briefest of moments, and the unnatural star in the sky grew a little brighter. It was a True Wish - she could use her powers to grant it.

What had the Moochick said...? Too dangerous?

But this was her friend. And if she changed this... she could change everything.

She allowed it. Her magic flowed out from her, into the star, and it grew brighter and brighter. She gasped when she felt her soul become emptier and emptier even as her body became weaker and weaker... it was more horrible than she had ever imagined. Her limbs gave way... she collapsed... and then there was nothing.

* * *

"Unicorn?"

The voice rang in the emptiness. She could not understand what it meant.

"Unicorn!"

It was... it meant something special. She knew it did. She knew she had recognised this word. Yes... and she had recognised this voice... in the past. But it was impossible to place it.

"Unicorn, come back!"

A light seemed to appear into the emptiness. Only with the light did she realise that it had been dark. Dark shadows curled away from the light. She knew, somehow, that she needed to focus on that light. Light was what made up her soul. Yes... light was her soul. She reached toward the light with everything she had.

"Unicorn... please..."

That voice... she groped for a hold of it, she knew it was important. She knew... she knew she cared. Yes, cared. That was it. Light grew brighter. Yes, the light was her soul. She was lost... she needed to find her way back.

"Unicorn!"

The light blasted suddenly into every corner of the dark emptiness, filled it, ate it, until...

The Unicorn gasped and tossed up her head like someone coming out of the water might. Her clear blue eyes opened, wide and wild. It took her a few moments to realise where she was. She lay on the roof, in the same place where she had collapsed, Scorpan's arms around her. He crouched over her, his grizzly face filled with worry.

She looked up at him.

"What... what happened?" she asked, and only when she spoke and heard her hoarse voice did she realise that her throat felt dry, like she had not drank decently in days. She tried to move but found all her limbs, all her muscles drained of all strength. She let out a little whinny of fear.

"I hoped _you_ might tell _me_," Scorpan said, and his voice was strangely thick. "First you started to glow and then you just... collapsed. I thought you died. I couldn't wake you... I was just about to call Habbit to help me take you down to the Moochick."

The Unicorn swallowed. She felt the bitter taste of disappointment in her mouth. Nothing had changed. Her magic had not worked.

"And... and that's all that happened?" she asked weakly, letting her head fall back down against Scorpan's arm where it had rested while she had been unconscious.

He looked at her helplessly.

"What else should have happened?" he asked, sounding confused.

The Unicorn shook her head. Now that it had not worked, she did not want to tell him. He did not know about her power of granting wishes, and she felt far too embarrassed and stupid to tell him. It sounded like such a wild story, and since it had not worked he would probably think she was delusional. She started to wonder if the Moochick had ever believed her either. Perhaps that was why he had told her not to try her powers on anything big. He must have known she could not really grant wishes anyway.

"Never mind," she said quietly. "Just... please, help me to my room. I need to rest."

It was obvious that Scorpan would have wanted to say something, but he seemed to think better of it. Without a word, he collected her in his arms and started to carry her down from the roof. She was fully grown now, but still quite small and delicate enough for him to carry her easily. He took her to her room and placed her carefully on her bed.

"You sound like you need some water," he said, a strange tone in his voice. "I'll find Habbit and tell him to bring you something."

The Unicorn nodded weakly but refused to meet his eyes. He lingered near the bed for a moment but then he turned and walked out. She looked at the closing door for a moment and then closed her eyes and pressed her head against the pillow. She felt the burning in her eyes but no tears came. It was as though she had spent too long on a desert - there was not enough liquids left in her to produce tears. Her shoulder shook slightly as she sobbed anyway. Useless. That was what it all was. Useless. She was no hero.

* * *

The Unicorn would not come out of her room during the entire day. Habbit came and went with food, but she would not eat. She drank the water that was brought to her, but only because she felt she would die if she did not. She was still too weak to get out of the bed, but it did not bother her. She did not feel there was any place for her to go, anyway.

Sometime in the late afternoon the door opened. She did not look up, expecting it to be Habbit with another bowl of soup or a slice of bread. Only when her ears caught the familiar thud of the walking stick did she raise her head a little from the pillow.

The Moochick's kindly old elf face looked very serious as he closed the door behind him. The Unicorn felt a nervous ripple go through her. Somehow, she had the unpleasant feeling that she was about to be reprimanded. Not quite sure what she would say to her mentor if he asked her about what had happened, she hid her muzzle into the pillow, pretending to be sleepy.

"I'm sleeping," she said into the pillow. Her voice came out muffled and, she hoped, drowsy.

She should have known the Moochick would not be phased so easily.

"You've slept all day. It'll do good for you to wake up now," he said matter-of-factly as he walked to the bed. He pulled up a chair and sat down, leaning his staff on the floor and his hands on the staff. His brown eyes had an intent expression in them.

The Unicorn felt her ears drooping. She could not meet his eyes.

"What do you want?" she asked.

He was quiet for a while. She felt his eyes examine her closely - somehow she got the distinct feeling that she was some kind of misbehaving specimen he was observing. This thought made her a little angry and she lifted her head to tell him to stop looking at her like that, but when she met his eyes the words died on her lips. His expression was not curious or contemplative. It was... sad.

"You used your powers, didn't you?" he asked. "The power of wishes. You tried to grant Scorpan his truest wish... didn't you?"

The Unicorn felt the telltale blush creep over her face. She knew she could not deny it, but the forced confession made her angry.

"And what of it?" she snapped irritably. "It didn't work, did it?"

The Moochick did not seem affected by her angry tone.

"Of course it didn't," he replied matter-of-factly. So matter-of-factly, in fact, that it aggravated the Unicorn further.

"Oh, that's right! You knew all along I couldn't really grant wishes! You knew all along it was just stupid fancy! And you... you just laughed in your beard that I was so silly!" She realised she was getting tears to her eyes and pushed her head back into the pillow. Vaguely she realised she was behaving even more foolishly now than she ever was while believing into her powers, but she did not care.

The Moochick did not respond in a long while. When he did, his voice was cool and calm.

"You know that's not true as well as I do. And you would have known it wouldn't work had you stopped to think about it."

The Unicorn said nothing. She knew if she opened her mouth, she would only insult the Moochick, and she did not really want to do that. She felt hurt and confused. She did not understand why he thought she should have known it would not work. She had thought about it. It made perfect sense. She saw no reason why there would be a limitation to what she could grant. No wish was any greater than another, they all had equal value.

"Some wishes would have consequences so vast that to grant them... you would need to change the very foundations of the network we call life. That's why I told you it was too dangerous. If you could take Scorpan back in time so that he might undo his mistakes, it would not only change Scorpan's life - it would change everything. Who knows, it might even prevent you from ever being born. Past is not something we should mess with, no matter if we have the power to go back in time or not. Of course," the Moochick added thoughtfully, "according to my calculations, it shouldn't be possible to go back in time at all." He shook his head. "But that's beside the point. What you must understand, Unicorn, is that there are things you cannot change and things you cannot make happen because, no matter how much you might refuse it, there will always be a greater force than you at play. And that force... is Balance." He smiled a little. "That's what I call it, anyway. Other people have different names for that force. Some don't even think it's a force at all. Names are irrelevant. What matters is that there is a balance between everything, Unicorn. To tamper with that balance... could cause irretrievable damage. Some wishes are simply... too dangerous."

She looked up. Again it was as though he was reading her mind, and replying to what she was thinking. She had asked him once if he did just that, but he had never confessed. She still had to wonder.

"But how can I tell?" the Unicorn asked, shaking her head. She was still struggling to understand everything he had said. "How can I tell when a wish is too... too dangerous?"

The Moochick smiled a little.

"As long as you wish something just for yourself, that concerns only yourself, the wish is safe," he said. "When you wished for knowledge of who you were and how you came to be, you wished only for yourself. What Scorpan wished would have changed more than just his own life."

She nodded slowly. She was beginning to understand. She was also beginning to feel like an idiot for not realising it on her own. She felt the blush on her cheeks deepen and averted her eyes.

"Don't feel embarrassed, my young friend," the Moochick's kind voice said. "It's harder to understand than you would think, and then I am partially to blame. I should have talked more with you about this. I gave you too much responsibility... but I never thought you would actually try your powers like this."

The Unicorn looked up.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I just wanted to fix things. I wanted to help. I thought... well, the way I was born and everything, everyone seems to think I'm meant for great things."

The Moochick looked at her kindly.

"All of us are meant for great things, my little Unicorn," he said gently. "We are all meant to find our own path in life - and truly, there is no greater purpose than that. You, my dear... just like the rest of us, all you need to do is to find your own path."

The Unicorn had to smile. The Moochick had such a unique way of looking at the world. His words made her feel better. Perhaps he was right. She did not really need to be a hero. She just needed to be what she was meant to be.

"Thank you, Master Moochick," she said softly. "I shall never forget that bit of advice."

The old elf smiled.

"I do hope so, my little Unicorn," he said. "I do hope so." He looked at her for a while, then nodded and seemed to decide that the conversation was at a satisfactory end. He leaned heavily on his staff and heaved himself up from the chair. "Well, I hope to see you over supper, my dear. I hear Habbit has made some excellent stew. I'm sure you'd enjoy it as well: he assures me there's not a drop of meat in it."

The Unicorn nodded. It felt nice to hear him chat about food in such an everyday way. It made her feel like things had not changed between them.

"I'll try, Master Moochick," she said. As she watched him limp to the door, her smile faded. How old and tired he looked! She realised she had never really paid attention to it before. Somehow, he looked much wearier and worn than the day she had first arrived to the Mushromp. He was leaning on his staff so heavily and if she pricked her ears, she could make out the slightest wheeze in his breath. Suddenly, this worried her, and as the worry grew in her it seemed to her that his steps grew slower and the wheezing of his breath more pronounced. There was a blur just on the edge of her vision, a blur of shadows moving restlessly, and hazily she realised that the bright daylight outside the window was dying, chased by clouds that suddenly rushed across the skies. Her heart started to race and she felt a strange dizziness, breath caught in her chest, like she was falling...

...until she realised that what she was experiencing were not her own feelings. They were the feelings that were reflected back to her from her mentor. She was already halfway up from the bed with a cry of help on her lips when the Moochick collapsed only a few steps from the door, clutching his heart, his breath dead on his lips.

* * *

The scream of a baby pony interrupted the story, and Kimono looked up, startled. Baby Tribbles was staring at her, wide-eyed, one hoof closed over her mouth. Baby Romperooni was glaring at her.

"Ssssh!" she said and poked her on the shoulder. "You always spoil the good parts!"

Kimono looked at her with a strict expression.

"What have I told you, Baby Romperooni?" she asked.

Baby Romperooni flattened her ears.

"But she does!" she argued. "She always screams or cries and then we have to stop. I want to find out what happened to the Moochick!"

Kimono was beginning to think she should have excluded Baby Romperooni from the Story Club. It would have made everything so much easier. However, she could imagine all too well the fuss her mother would have started up if she did anything of the sort.

"You will find out on our next meeting," Kimono said matter-of-factly and closed the Book of Dreams with a determined movement of one hoof. There were loud objections from the older foals, but Kimono paid them no heed as she started to usher the baby ponies out of the door.

* * *

Author's Notes: I will let you wonder if I _really_ killed the Moochick. Furthermore, I'll let you wonder exactly why he collapsed. ;) Don't you just love cliffhangers?


	7. There's Something Out There

Author's Notes: I'm sorry this chapter's taken so long in coming. Rest assured though, there may sometimes lapse time between chapters, but I will never abandon this story.

* * *

**Chapter Seven: There's Something Out There**

There was a crowd of baby ponies waiting outside the Dream Room the next time Kimono arrived there for the Story Club meeting. She looked round the anxious faces and smiled to herself.

"Hurry up already!" Baby Romperooni urged with her shrill voice. She was prancing on her front hooves anxiously. "We wanna know if the Moochick died!"

Kimono shook her head.

"Didn't your mother teach you patience?" she asked pointedly as she made her way through the crowd of baby ponies to the door.

Baby Romperooni shrugged.

"Maybe," she said, unconcerned. "I wasn't really listening."

Kimono wrinkled her nose as a sign of distaste, but said nothing as she opened the door and stepped inside. The little ponies followed her, still quite unaware of the little unicorn, concealed in the dark corner of the Dream Room. Kimono couldn't help but steal a glance toward the shadows as a ripple of nervousness went through her. There was no visible sign of the unicorn anywhere. The thought that she was hiding the daughter of Dark Crescent in the Dream Room felt unreal to Kimono. She wondered how long she would get away with smuggling food to her. At least the blanket and pillow had been easily explained, since the pillows and blankets the baby ponies used during the Story Club meetings were stored in the Dream Room.

Kimono was still convinced she would lose her job if word of Crescent Crystal ever got out.

* * *

Cold fear strangled the Unicorn as she bent over the Moochick. Was he dead? She was horrified at the prospect. What would she do? With a quivering muzzle, she lowered her head close to the Moochick's face and touched his cheek. She slid her muzzle to the Moochick's nose and stopped there.

She could have cried for relief when she felt a faint blow of breath on her sensitive muzzle. He was still alive!

Alerted by her cry for help, the Prince of Grundles stumbled into the room at this point. The Unicorn jumped a little and raised her muzzle at the yelp the Prince let out. He was staring at the Moochick with wide eyes.

"Oh no!" the Prince screamed. "He's dead!"

"No," the Unicorn said, frustrated with her friend's instant expectation for the worst. "He's still alive. We were talking, and then he just suddenly clutched his heart and... collapsed. I don't know what's wrong with him."

"Maybe it's a heart attack," the Prince said, still staring at the Moochick's body with a horrified expression.

The Unicorn shook her head irritably.

"It can't be," she said.

"Well, how do you know?" the Prince asked hotly. "He could be dying as we speak!"

The Unicorn looked at the Moochick. It was true that the old elf could have been dying at that very moment. But she was certain it was not a heart attack. It had felt far more ominous than that. She simply _felt_ it was not a heart attack.

"I don't know..." she muttered, feeling helpless. "But..."

At that moment Habbit rushed into the room. The rabbit's eyes widened at the sight of the old elf, and he let out a whimpering sound. It shocked the Unicorn; she had never heard the rabbit make any kind of a noise before, save from clearing his throat. With a noise that might have been a sob, Habbit rushed to his master's side and knelt beside him. He raised the Moochick's head to his lap and tried his pulse. As the Unicorn and the Prince watched, Habbit wrapped his arms around his master's body and hugged it. The desperate, broken sobbing almost broke the Unicorn's heart.

"Oh... oh," she murmured and shifted her hooves around, anxious to help, somehow. She felt the fatigue still heavily on her, but hardly noticed. Her entire attention was now on the old elf and his faithful servant.

Suddenly Habbit looked up. He stopped sobbing and had a look of determination on his face. He motioned to the Prince and the Unicorn meaningfully and then turned to lift the Moochick up. The Unicorn understood at once what he wanted.

"We'll have to help him into a bed," she said, then looked around. "Scorpan, you could easily carry him... wait." She frowned and stepped closer to the door to peer out into the hallway. "Where's Scorpan?" She felt infinitely offended that the Ropteran had not appeared yet. He must have heard her cry.

"He's not here," the Prince said while moving to the Moochick. He knelt and, with Habbit's help, managed to lift the old man up. "He seemed really upset after you came down from the roof this morning and, after waiting for a few hours for you to get up, left. He said something about a scouting trip."

The Unicorn's ears flopped.

"Oh." She felt embarrassed, and then worried. She realised she had never explained to Scorpan what had happened. What if he thought it was his fault, what had happened to her? She would have to explain everything to him when he returned... somehow.

"What _did_ happen to you up on the roof, anyway?" the Prince asked while starting to carry the Moochick out of the room and toward the elf's own room. Habbit walked beside him, helping where he could, and the Unicorn moved instinctively closer though she was far too weak to be of any real help. "I mean..." the Prince puffed for the strain of the Moochick's weight. "Scorpan said you'd just suddenly collapsed." His eyes widened suddenly and he glanced at the Unicorn. "Ooh, maybe it's the same thing now happening to the Moochick!"

The Unicorn wrinkled her nose.

"Oh, it is not," she said quickly - too quickly, she realised.

The Prince frowned.

"Well, why not? What happened to you, then?"

The Unicorn blushed, realising that she had now talked herself into trouble. How could she explain that what was wrong with Master Moochick could not have anything to do with what had happened to her, without telling him about her attempt at granting Scorpan's wish and yet without lying?

"I... oh... I just... I tried some magic. And... it didn't work quite the way... quite the way I thought." She shook her head impatiently. "Oh, it's not important. The point is..."

But before she could finish, the Prince let out an "oof" and fell onto his knees under the Moochick's weight. Habbit hovered around him anxiously, rather uselessly supporting the Moochick's arm in his paws. The Unicorn moved closer with a concerned expression.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes I'm..." the Prince attempted to rise again, but his knees trembled and he collapsed again, "...no. No, I don't think so." He looked up at the Unicorn. "He's too heavy."

The Unicorn considered it for a moment, then crouched down and offered out her shoulder to the Prince.

"I'll help you," she said softly, hoping that her strength would not fail her. The Prince smiled gratefully.

Together, they managed to drag the Moochick into his chamber and set him on the bed. Soon after, Habbit chased them out of the room. As the Unicorn paused at the door, she saw the rabbit hovering over the bed with a bucket of water and a towel in his paws. The Unicorn let out a soft, trembling breath and then stepped out again.

What if the Moochick died?

"Do you think he knows what he's doing?" the Prince asked, glancing at the closed door behind them.

The Unicorn shrugged.

"Do you think you'd know better?"

The Prince bit his lip.

"I see your point."

The two of them stood in the hallway in silence for some time. Neither spoke, for lack of something to say. The Prince stared at the door, the Unicorn kept her eyes on her hooves. She was distracted from the exhaustion by her fear. It felt as unpleasant as always. It prickled on her neck, between her ears and ran down her spine. She hated the feeling of it. Was there no way of simply getting rid of fear? It always seemed so simple in the nightmares. She simply appeared, chased away the shadows and everything was fine again. But she had no idea what to do with her own fear. She couldn't simply wish it away, or push it away. She was able to restrain it, but she did not know how far that would take her. She wondered if there was a limit to how much fear you could feel? And would she break under enough pressure, in the end? She wished she would have talked with the Moochick more extensively about the meaning of emotions. There were far too many she did not yet fully understand.

"You think he'll die?"

The Prince's voice was barely audible. The Unicorn did not look up. Only her ears stirred slightly in recognition that she had heard him.

"I don't know." She paused. Her chest heaved with the deep breaths she had to take in order to fight the strange sensation rising in her. The burning in her eyes was unpleasant and she hardly understood its meaning. Only when the first tear rolled down her cheek did she realise she was crying. She gasped and closed her eyes tight. More tears squeezed out from between her eyelids and fell noiselessly on the floor.

The Prince was visibly uncomfortable now. He did not know what he should have said or done to make the Unicorn feel better, and her tears made him nervous. He would have liked to change the subject somehow, but he was too upset, himself, to know what to do.

"Maybe..." Words died on his lips and he scratched the back of his head. Then his face brightened a little as an idea came to him. "Maybe we should go downstairs... wait for Scorpan. He'll probably be back soon. He'll know what to do."

Quite frankly, the Unicorn was not so convinced, but she nodded anyway. It was better than standing here with nothing to do. She drew in a trembling breath, trying to still her crying.

Neither spoke on the way down.

* * *

Darkness was falling over Mushromp. There was no change in the Moochick's condition, but the Unicorn was slowly beginning to feel her strength returning to her. She had settled to rest on the armchair beside the fireplace, her feet cradled under her and her head leaning on one of the arm rests. The Prince had pulled a blanket over her so that she would stay warm. They had not spoken much during their long wait. The Unicorn's clear blue eyes remained fixed on the flickering flames as she thought back on the moment of the Moochick's collapse. All those shadows that had seemed to move... she had to wonder if she had imagined it all.

Habbit had been down a few times and reassured the two with nods that the Moochick was still alive and, with shakes of the head, that there was no change in his condition. The Unicorn had stopped crying, but now she was feeling guilty. Somehow, she could not help but think that she should have been able to do something. She had considered trying her powers, trying to wish for the Moochick's health back, but she was afraid to use her powers now. She was not sure if she could tell the right kind of wish. What if she died in the attempt? She was already weak from the morning, what if it would affect? And was there a limitation to how frequently she could use her magic?

The Moochick had promised, long time ago, that he would help her to learn to control her magical powers eventually. He had, however, wanted to teach her other things first and said that they would get to the magic part in good time. The Unicorn had feigned understanding at the time, but now she was beginning to feel it had been a mistake to wait. None of this would have happened had she been better equipped to handle her powers.

_It's harder to understand than you would think,_ the Moochick's words floated back to her, _and then I am partially to blame. I should have talked more with you about this. I gave you too much responsibility..._

The Unicorn sighed. The Moochick had admitted to making a mistake when he had not explained to her properly the danger behind trying her powers at random. But had he made another mistake in not focusing on building her understanding of her powers and helping her to harness her magic? Would he now pay for it with his life? If only she had known how to control her powers, she might have been able to save him. Who else could have? Habbit only had the magic his master lent him, and it was very limited; this the Unicorn had learned during the twenty years she had spent as the Moochick's apprentice. The Prince of Grundles had no magic at all, and if Scorpan possessed any powers he never let it on.

Was the Unicorn the Moochick's only hope? But how could she help when she did not know how? Certainly, she wished from the bottom of her heart that the Moochick would have awakened and that he would have been well again. But could she just use her powers to grant that wish when she did not know what had caused the Moochick's illness? Should she just try blindly? What was it that the Moochick would have wanted her to do?

It was, at least, clear that the Moochick had not expected this to happen. He had chatted about going downstairs for supper. Clearly he had not expected to just collapse and never wake again.

Never?

The Unicorn shuddered. The thought was more frightening than she could bear. What would they do if the Moochick never woke? What would she do?

"Scorpan's coming."

The Unicorn lifted her head from the arm rest and looked over to the window where the Prince stood, looking out. She lifted herself tentatively on her forehooves and noticed, to her delight, that they no longer shook. She was certainly getting stronger, back to normal again. She shook the blanket off from her shoulders and hopped on the floor. Soon she had joined the Prince at the window and peered out into the gathering darkness.

Somehow, it seemed as though the night had never been quite so dark before. It was hard to see outside and the Unicorn strained her eyes to see. Finally, when the Prince pointed, she could see what he meant. A dark bat-winged shape was making its way through the air toward the hut. The Unicorn smiled at first, relieved that Scorpan seemed to be returning, but then her smile faded. She realised that the beast was swaying as he flew, lurching in the air now and then, as though he had difficulties in keeping himself in the air.

"Oh, no... not him too," the Unicorn murmured, distraught. She lifted her hooves up on the windowsill and squinted her eyes to see better.

"I think he's gonna crash," the Prince said with a horrified voice. The Unicorn had no time to reply when the large winged beast suddenly started an unexpected dive toward the ground. His wings hung lifelessly, not at all in the correct folded position for a planned dive.

"Come on!" the Unicorn cried and turned around. She galloped to the door, opened it and rushed out into the night. The Prince hesitated a moment at the window, watching the Ropteran spiralling down, then he made a whimpering sound and started to run as well.

They had to seach for the Ropteran a good while, and while searching, they got separated from one another. The Unicorn was frantic by now. She could not bear to think she might be losing another friend. She galloped from giant mushroom to another, calling out Scorpan's name. There was a frightened shrill tone to her voice and she could feel her heart racing. Where _was_ the Ropteran? Why did he not answer her? Was he badly injured? When moments passed and she had not been able to find him, she paused for a moment and forced herself to think. How far had Scorpan been from the hut when he had fallen? She tried to count an approximate distance, then closed her eyes and winked out.

When she winked back in it seemed like the mushrooms around her had grown darker. That was strange. The entire Mushromp was always equally lit by the moon and the stars. Yet, somehow, it seemed that the further she ventured into the mushroom forest, the darker it got. She shook her head and tried to ignore the whole thing. Her primary concern now was finding Scorpan.

"Scorpan?" she called again, but there was no answer. She bit her lip and started to gallop again, trying to peer through the darkness. What if Scorpan was unconscious and could not answer? She felt a cold shiver run down her spine. How would she ever find him in this darkness?

"Unicorn...?"

The Unicorn skidded to a halt. It was his voice! Barely more than a whisper, but she had heard it. Her ears swivelled around frantically, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"Scorpan?" she called back. "Scorpan!"

"Here," Scorpan's voice came again, and this time the Unicorn's left ear picked up the direction, and she swirled around. A few leaps, and she had to rear in order to keep from stepping on him.

"Scorpan! Are you hurt?"

She leaned over him. He lay on the moss, barely moving, his right wing folded now. The left one hung limply and seemed to be in a slightly unnatural angle. More importantly, the Unicorn could smell his blood. The odour hung in the air, pungent and fresh. When the Ropteran lifted his head to look at her, she saw pain in his eyes.

"No... time," he said hoarsely. It was clearly hard for him to speak. "We've got to get to the hut. They're still after me."

The Unicorn jumped a little with fright.

"Who?" Her eyes darted this way and that, trying to see past the closest mushrooms. Her ears pricked for sounds, she stood like a frightened deer, trying to decide whether to run or hide.

"No time!" Scorpan growled, and the Unicorn realised he was lifting himself up from the ground. Quickly she moved in closer and offered her shoulder to him. She was not of much help as she was still not especially tall and would never be so. The Moochick had pointed out many a time that she would never be as large as those he called "horses", though the Unicorn scarcely knew exactly what he meant. She had been fascinated by the stories he told her about strange creatures that were like her, but very different, and that lived in the human world. These horses were big and strong and could carry great loads and run vast distances. At that moment the Unicorn felt she would have given anything if she could have been like those horses. She could have carried Scorpan to the hut on her back, perhaps she might have even run. As it were, all she could do was to help him to stand and start leading him through the Mushromp.

From the way Scorpan walked, the Unicorn deduced that his injury was somewhere on his body. She could not see the blood as it was too dark, but she thought she could just make out a darker spot somewhere on the left side of his body. The smell of blood still hung heavily in the air and, for some reason, it made her feel uneasy. She expected it was another instinct, like the Moochick had told her. He had explained that all creatures had certain instincts and traits which carried in them because of their species and could not be fully shut out. He had surmised that the Unicorn's instincts were very much like those of a horse's and had conducted several experiments to test this theory. One of them had involved banging something very loudly and surprisingly close by to her. The Unicorn had been halfway through the Mushromp, running wild with fear, before she had even realised what she was doing. She had returned, rather embarrassed, to learn that her species was especially sensitive toward sudden sounds and movements and that she would need to work on this if she wanted to be less easily spooked.

"Too slow," Scorpan then muttered and glanced over his shoulder. "We have to run."

"No," the Unicorn objected. "You'll kill yourself."

"They'll kill us if they catch us," the Ropteran said harshly and shook his head. "Running, at least we'll have a chance. At least... you'll have a chance." He then looked at her with a fierce, angry expression. "You shouldn't have come! Now we're both in danger!"

This sudden accusation was so surprising that it took a while from the Unicorn to recover. Then she scowled at the large beast.

"I saw you falling and thought you might be injured," she said hotly. "And besides, you're not making any sense. The Mushromp is safe, you know that, the Moochick's magic protects it."

"Not anymore," Scorpan said darkly, his yellow eyes turning away from the Unicorn.

The Unicorn's pace slowed for a moment, then she picked it up again to a trot. Scorpan was taking long, hurried steps now.

"What do you mean?" the Unicorn asked, her eyes very wide.

Scorpan said nothing as he continued to walk fast. It clearly hurt him, but he was gritting his teeth and would not let a sound of pain. For a while it seemed like he was not going to answer, but then he started to open his mouth. Before he had got a word out, however, there was a terrible screeching sound from behind them. Scorpan turned his head sharply to look over his shoulder.

"They're gaining on us," he said with a tight, tense voice. He looked at the Unicorn. "You can wink back home. I'm sure it's still safe in the centre of the Mushromp. Go!"

"I don't understand," the Unicorn said, shaking her head. She felt the tears burn her eyes but would not let the fear take hold. Her throat felt tight, her mouth was dry, her heart was drumming in her chest. She did not understand, but now she could feel that the earth was trembling under her hooves. Something large and heavy was coming. And she was afraid that she knew exactly what that was.

"You don't need to understand!" Scorpan hissed angrily, desperately. He hit the Unicorn on the rump with one hand, pushing her forward. "Just go!"

"No," the Unicorn said firmly. "Whatever it is... you can't fight it alone."

Scorpan growled angrily and his yellow eyes flashed with rage as he lunged forward, as though he was attacking her. She sidestepped, and he stumbled. He fell on the ground with a groan and did not get up again. The Unicorn approached him again, worried. She reached her muzzle to him - only to meet a pair of pain-ridden yellow eyes, looking at her with plea.

"Unicorn... please... just go. Leave me. I won't make it."

She gulped, staring at him. She could not begin to understand what had happened to him on his scouting trip, or why was this something, whatever it was, after him - but she knew one thing. She was _not_ going to leave him like this. She would not lose another friend. She shook her head. There had to be a way. She lifted her head and craned her neck to peer behind them to the darkness. She could feel the sounds of something coming closer, something big. The earth under her hooves shook under giant footsteps noticeably now. She looked back down at Scorpan's collapsed form, then turned to look to the direction she knew the mushroom house to be. She thought she could see a faint friendly glow there, seeping through the darkness. She knew that she could have been on the Moochick's yard in a matter of seconds if she winked there. But she could not leave Scorpan behind.

If she only could carry him...

...carry him...?

She looked down at her friend again. Her eyes grew hard as two clear blue sapphires. It was the only way. She had to try it.

The Unicorn knelt beside the large winged beast and pressed her muzzle gently on his neck.

"This might feel strange," she said softly. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated on her horn. It began to glow faintly and she knew her magic was preparing for the final blast of bright light and the fluttering sensation that would wink her out. But instead of letting herself slide into the flutter, she concentrated to the feeling of Scorpan's body next to her, to the touch of their bodies and their heartbeats, his deep and steady, her quick and breathless. She knew she had only one shot at this; she might not find him in time if she had to come back for him.

She concentrated on only one thought. _I must take him to safety._

And then she released the magic, hoping against hope that it would work. She had never tried winking out even with a lifeless object before, let alone a living being. She was not even sure if it was possible. But it was the only chance either of them had. The only chance she had to save Scorpan. There was a bright light, and she felt the familiar flutter in the air around her; for a while she could not feel her body nor his, then all sensation returned to her again.

She opened her eyes.

"...ohhh..." Scorpan's yellow eyes rolled in their sockets, and his head fell against the soft moss of the Moochick's garden, his consciousness escaping. But he _was_ there. The Unicorn leapt to her feet, feeling so relieved she might have cried out in victory. It had worked. She had winked both herself and Scorpan to the Moochick's house. She looked around and saw that they were at the back of the Moochick's house, in the middle of Habbit's meticulously cared flower garden.

"Well," she murmured to herself critically, "the aim could've been better."

"Unicorn!"

The Unicorn turned her head sharply toward the Prince's voice but could not see him. He must have been on the other side of the house. The Unicorn suddenly realised in horror that she had completely forgotten about the Grundle. She glanced at Scorpan, but the Ropteran was still clearly unconscious. Quickly she winked out.

"Prince?" she called as soon as she had reappeared on the front side of the house. To her relief, she could see the Grundle Prince running from the forest, apparently unharmed. She started to gallop to meet him. "Prince! Are you all right?"

The Prince's frightened expression turned to relief when he spotted the Unicorn.

"Oh, thank the Light," he said breathlessly. "I thought you were both gone. There's something out there, Unicorn." He turned to point to the mushroom forest with a trembling hand. "I don't know what it is, but I could hear it. I tried to look for you but you weren't there."

"I'm sorry," the Unicorn said, her eyes fixed to the forest. "But I found Scorpan, and he's badly wounded. I winked him to safety."

"Oh good." Then it seemed to register what she had said. The Prince looked at her, his mouth slightly ajar. "You... winked him?"

The Unicorn looked at him. She found it difficult to concentrate on talking with the Prince; she felt still uneasy about knowing that whatever had chased Scorpan was still coming toward them. Was Scorpan right, would they be safe at the house? If something dark had already penetrated the shield the Moochick had conjured around the Mushromp, what would stop it from reaching the house?

"I know, I've never tried it before," she murmured, her eyes straying to the forest again. "But it worked. Though I'm worried it might have hurt him somehow. He fainted."

"Where is he?" The Prince looked around, confused. The Unicorn tossed her head toward the house.

"Behind the house, in the garden." She wrinkled her nose thoughtfully, her thoughts straying again to the quality of the wink. "My aiming was a bit off. I wonder if it's because I had a passenger. It felt more difficult than usually."

"Well... we should get him inside the house," the Prince said and turned. He seemed rather unconcerned about the winking. The Unicorn smiled a little. The Prince had a way of not troubling himself with things he didn't understand. She turned and started to walk toward the garden, throwing one more look behind her to the forest. She still felt uneasy and hoped that Scorpan had been right.

_Well,_ she thought to herself, _we'll see soon enough, I suppose._

They soon found it was impossible to move the Ropteran between the two of them. He was too large and heavy to be lifted, and though they still could not see his wounds very well in the darkness, the Unicorn was afraid of trying to drag him on the ground.

"Couldn't you just wink him in?" the Prince suggested after a while.

The Unicorn shook her head.

"I can't wink through walls, remember?" she said. "I can't wink through anything solid. And even if we open the door so I can use that, it's more difficult with such a small opening, especially since it's hard enough to wink with someone else. Besides, I'm not sure if I dare to risk it so soon afterwards; there's no telling what the winking did to him."

The Prince seemed disappointed.

"I suppose I should go get a lantern and bandages and things, then," he said. "So we can take care of his wounds out here."

"No, wait, I think he's waking up." The Unicorn looked at Scorpan intently. The Ropteran's eyelids stirred and, very slowly, he turned his head. "Scorpan?"

"Unicorn...?" His voice was very, very quiet and weak. "What...?"

"I winked you to the Moochick's house," she explained.

Scorpan's eyes opened and he looked at the Unicorn, seeming dazed.

"You _what_?" he groaned and frowned. "How did... how did you...?"

"Later," she said hurriedly. "Right now, we've got to get you inside. Do you think you can walk?"

Focus was returning to Scorpan's eyes and he nodded firmly.

"Think so," he grunted and stirred. The Unicorn saw him tense for a moment, one of his hands wrapping tightly around his body. But he said nothing and got up slowly. None of them spoke as they walked with Scorpan to the door of the house. There the Ropteran stopped for a moment, looking across the yard to the dark forest. They could hear a distant howling noise and see something dark moving against the sky, just above the mushroom tops. Scorpan let his obviously injured wing hang limply but folded his other wing closer to his body.

"What is it?" the Unicorn whispered, feeling the cold night breeze on her fur.

"Is it coming here?" the Prince added, frightened.

Scorpan shook his head.

"The Moochick's spell protects us here as long as he's alive," he said quietly. Then he frowned. "I just don't understand what weakened his other spells to allow them cross the Mushromp borders."

The Unicorn felt a chill.

"Scorpan..." she said quietly, "the Moochick... something's wrong with him." Scorpan turned sharply to look at her, worry written over his face. The Unicorn saw the question in his eyes, but shook her head. "Later. First, we get you inside and look at your wounds."

Scorpan's expression tightened again.

"I'm not wounded," he said stubbornly. The Unicorn shook her head again.

"Who do you think you're fooling?" she asked. "I can smell the blood three feet away." She poked his foot with her horn. "Now, get inside and let us look at that wound."

Scorpan looked like he would have wanted to argue, but he said nothing as he turned to walk inside the hut. The Prince followed him quickly, and only the Unicorn lingered at the doorstep for a moment. She could see the dark shape move a while longer and heard one more howl, and then it seemed as though the shape began to move away. She let out a soft breath and walked inside the hut. It was beginning to look as though Scorpan's predictions of a dark tide rising were more correct than anyone of them ever wanted to admit.

* * *

It turned out that Scorpan's wound was not as bad as the Unicorn had feared. The cut was deep but not deep enough to have hit any vital organs, and once it had been cleaned and bandaged it seemed to cause less pain to the Ropteran. The Unicorn examined his wing carefully and noted that it seemed to simply have been dislocated. Scorpan told her to leave it alone and wait for Habbit. The rabbit, apparently, was an excellent medic.

While helping Scorpan, the Unicorn explained the Moochick's condition to him. Scorpan's face grew serious and he listened in silence, nodding his head now and then. When the Unicorn was finished, he sighed.

"Strange..." he said, his arms folded over his chest and his head resting on the cushion of the armchair. "If I didn't hate guessing, I would guess that what happened to the Moochick and me are somehow connected."

"What do you mean?" the Unicorn asked. She had taken her usual spot on the rug in front of the fireplace. The Prince of Grundles had conquered the other armchair. They both looked at Scorpan intently.

"Well... I guess I had better start from the beginning." Scorpan paused for a moment. "I suppose you can both guess that I went to the Midnight Castle again." He shrugged. "I suppose I just wanted to see what Tirak was up to, if I could. Something strange happened there, though. You will understand, of course, that I can't get inside the actual castle so it's very hard to tell what is really going on inside there, so usually I don't see much aside from people going in and out." He frowned. "This time though, I could actually see something. Dark clouds started gathering over the castle. At first I didn't think anything special of it, but there just came more and more clouds, and they started circling in the air above the castle as though there was some kind of a strange vortex. The clouds spun round and round, spiralling downward to the highest tower of the castle.

"It seemed as though everything was becoming darker. Mind you, this happened in the afternoon, hours ago, when it was still supposed to be daytime. Soon it was almost impossible to see anything, so dark it became, and all I could see were strange lights in the windows of that highest tower. Then, suddenly, a lightning struck up from the tower and hit the clouds, and then... everything became quiet. The clouds never dispersed, but they stopped spiralling down after the lightning. Now they just hung over the castle, darker than ever before, and from what I could see, that strange light still remained in the tower."

Scorpan smiled joylessly with one corner of his mouth and shrugged.

"Well, you can guess that at that point I had to get closer to try and see what had happened."

The Unicorn shook her head and looked very displeased.

"Scorpan!" she chided him. "You take unnecessary risks."

Scorpan shrugged one shoulder.

"I don't see it as an unnecessary risk. It looked like something big was going on, and if we plan to do anything about it, we should know just what it is."

The Unicorn stared at him stubbornly.

"And you consider yourself as 'expendable'," she finished off his unspoken thought. Scorpan glanced at her sideways but did not reply. The Unicorn blew air out of her nostrils in a sharp, irritated fashion. "Scorpan, really! You are anything but expendable! Next to the Moochick, you're the wisest person I know, and precisely if we are going to do something about all the bad things going on, we need your strength!"

"And wings," the Prince of Grundles offered helpfully. "We definitely need your wings."

Scorpan glanced at the Prince with a lopsided smile.

"Thank you," he said dryly.

The Prince beamed at him. The Unicorn stifled an involuntary giggle. Scorpan turned his eyes back to the flames crackling in the fireplace, his yellow eyes gleaming in the firelight.

"When I got to the window," he continued as though he had never been interrupted, "the first thing I saw was a strange mirror standing in the middle of the room. It looked old and had engravings on its silver frames. The weirdest thing about it, though, was that it was glowing."

The Unicorn raised a brow.

"Glowing?" she asked curiously. Scorpan nodded.

"A strange red light - the same I had seen from the window. But while it glowed, in its depths I could see nothing but swirling darkness. It was as though the mirror reflected a dark black-blue mist, but as I looked around the room, I could not see the source of that reflection. I can only conclude it was a magical mirror."

"No mirror. A portal." A voice sounded suddenly from the doorway. All three turned sharply to look, and the Prince gasped when he saw the Moochick's weary form in the doorway, leaning heavily on the doorframe and his walking stick. The Unicorn made a little noise and leapt on her feet. She galloped to the old elf and offered herself for support. He smiled to her kindly and wrapped his other arm over the Unicorn's back. Habbit hovering around them, a worried expression on his face, they slowly made their way to the fireplace. The Prince slid down from the armchair and helped the others to lift the Moochick on the cushions.

The Unicorn had never seen the Moochick look quite so pale and worn. He sighed heavily as he sat on the armchair and leaned his head on the cushions. There seemed to be new wrinkles on his face and, somehow, the Unicorn was sure that his white beard had grown a little whiter. Whatever had happened to the Moochick, he was certainly not well. His brown eyes looked at the Unicorn with a kind but weary expression as she remained close to the armchair.

"I'm all right now," the Moochick said gently. His eyes moved to Scorpan, and as the old elf's brown eyes met Scorpan's yellow ones, they lost their kindness. There was only an intent, alert expression in them and his voice grew sharper. "You were there, then, Scorpan? When it happened?"

The Unicorn had to feel somewhat better when Scorpan looked as confused as she felt. At least this time she was not the only one who had no idea of what the Moochick was going on about. The frown on the old elf's forehead cleared when he saw that the Ropteran had no idea what he was talking about. The Moochick shook his head a little and touched his brow with one weary hand.

"There was someone new in that room, wasn't there? Someone you didn't recognise?" he asked quietly, with a voice so silent it was barely above a whisper. Scorpan nodded.

"He looked... he looked like a ram," Scorpan said. "He had dark blue fur and black-blue horns. His eyes glowed with a red light." He frowned when the Moochick's cheeks seemed to lose the last of the colour they had retained. "Who is he, Master? Do you know him?"

The Moochick shook his head wearily.

"No creature alive today knows him," he said with a sigh. "None knows his face, save for my old master. But he has told me everything he knows, and your description is enough for me to know it is him. That... and the fact that I felt his arrival, and it has weakened me."

Scorpan looked alarmed now.

"Who..?" But he never finished his sentence. His yellow eyes widened and he clutched the armrest of his chair with one clawed hand. "Do you mean...?"

But by now the Unicorn, too, had guessed.

"Grogar?" she whispered, her blue eyes wide. Her other forehoof started to shake a little but she cradled it underneath her to hide it from view.

"The Lord of Darkness?" the Prince of Grundles shrieked and covered his mouth with his hands.

The Moochick nodded slowly. Scorpan closed his eyes and leaned his head backward, looking like his worst fears had been realized. Which, of course, had happened. The Unicorn bit her lip and looked down. The Prince whimpered and hid behind the Moochick's armchair.

"Is that what made you collapse?" the Unicorn asked with a quiet voice, not lifting her eyes.

The Moochick nodded again.

"I knew this would happen!" Scorpan cried, opening his eyes and hitting his fist on the armrest. His yellow eyes flashed. "I told you, eventually, he would break through the veil between the worlds! It was only a matter of time before the darkness grew enough to allow passage to him."

The Moochick looked at Scorpan for a moment in silence. Then his eyes, to the Unicorn's surprise, turned to her, boring deep into her.

"We all make mistakes," the Moochick said quietly, still obviously talking to Scorpan though his eyes never moved from the Unicorn's face. This made the mare nervous, and she shifted on the rug, her eyes avoiding the Moochick's intent staring. Scorpan took notice of the old elf's gaze, but had only the time to frown and open her mouth before the Moochick turned his eyes on Scorpan again. His brown eyes were wrought with steel. "You have your war now, Scorpan," he said with a low voice.

Scorpan looked at him, startled.

"_Now_ you would have us fight?" he asked, sounding thoroughly surprised. "You've always spoken against a direct approach. When I wanted to fight..."

"When you wanted to fight," the Moochick interrupted him, "you only wanted to get back your throne. You would have gone against an enemy much stronger than yourself, and you would have fallen."

"At least I would have took up arms when we still had a fighting chance! What chance have we now, against the Lord of Darkness? Your waiting..."

"I waited for the right moment!" the Moochick snapped, more irritable now than the Unicorn had ever seen him.

"You waited too long!" Scorpan hissed, his yellow eyes flashing. "You gave darkness time to rise until it now devours us all!"

The Moochick's eyes flashed as well.

"I was waiting for the right moment..." he repeated, but Scorpan would have none of it.

"You've let in the Darkness with your waiting!"

"No!" the Moochick erupted. The end of his staff hit the floor, and turned to point right at the Unicorn. "_She_ has!"

A complete silence fell. You could have heard a pin drop as all eyes turned to the Unicorn. Her eyes, on the other hand, were now fixed into the Moochick, wide and frightened. It took her a moment to realise just what he had said. Then the information took a few more minutes to really sink in - and then she started to shake violently.

"W-what?" she whispered, struggling on her feet though it felt as though her hooves had suddenly turned to jello.

The old elf's angry expression melted into sadness and he turned his eyes to the floor. He let his staff fall into his lap and wiped his forehead with his hand.

"She?" Scorpan's voice asked, but neither the Moochick nor the Unicorn seemed to hear him. The elf and the Unicorn stared at each other in silence.

It felt as though a gap a thousand miles wide and equally deep had just been severed in between them.

"Unicorn... When you tried to use your magic for Scorpan this morning..." The Moochick's voice was faint and weary. His face had grown pale. "You tore open the delicate web that keeps our worlds in balance. The split was there for but a moment... but it was enough for _him_." The old elf sighed and looked up at the Unicorn again. "I'm sorry, Unicorn. I didn't mean to tell you like this. Up until a few hours ago, I wasn't even aware that your attempt had had such grave consequences."

The Unicorn still trembled, but while her mind was frantically trying to make sense of everything the Moochick was saying, and had said, she knew one thing right away.

"You felt it," she whispered. She had never imagined the Moochick's power of perception could have been so acute. "When I used my magic this morning... when Grogar came through the portal... you felt it all."

The Moochick nodded solemnly. The Unicorn frowned now.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded. "Why didn't you tell me what I had done?"

"Because, as I said, I didn't realise how grave consequences..."

"So, what? You just thought I didn't need to know?" the Unicorn was getting agitated now, and planted both her forehooves on the floor, arching her neck angrily. "Or you were going tell me later, like you were going to tell me about my magic later? It's always later with you, isn't it? Well, if you would have told me enough early enough, none of this would have ever happened in the first place! But you just wait!"

The Moochick's expression remained inscrutable.

"I told you when we first met that for true wisdom, learners must find out the answers for themselves."

"But you could at least give me the questions!" the Unicorn cried. She was fed up with this game of wisdom, fed up with cryptic answers and hidden secrets. "Scorpan is right! You just wait, you never act! You think it's wisdom, but it's all just empty promises and fool's hope!" She shook her head angrily. "Well, I'm through with waiting! It's time to act now, and mend what we can. Who's with me?"

She looked fiercely around in the room. She met Scorpan's eyes, demanding and commanding. His yellow eyes were quiet and indecipherable for a moment. Then he nodded slowly. The Unicorn turned to the Prince of Grundles, who was still half hiding behind the Moochick's chair. He shrank back at first when she met his eyes, but finally he gulped and nodded, though not without a frightened glance toward the Moochick.

The Unicorn looked at the old elf again, her blue eyes hard as sapphires and cold as ice. The Moochick did not shrink back or seem embarrassed. He did not even seem offended, which caused a slight shiver of nervousness in the Unicorn. Still, she held her ground.

"You are right," the Moochick said then calmly. "It _is_ time to act." Discreetly he neglected to mention that it had been he who had spoken about fighting in the first place. "It is too late for anything else. Unfortunately, I cannot join you in anything but spirit. When Grogar entered into our world, he weakened me."

The Unicorn was so surprised she forgot she was still angry with him.

"Weakened you?" she asked, confused.

"He is an entity that lives and thrives out of Darkness, and wherever he goes he spreads it around him. The concentration of evil spells which were required to open the portal and allow him access, together with his sudden appearance into this world drained everyone who need Light to survive and prosper. A normal being void of magic would hardly even notice, but one whose power is based on Light would feel the impact. Since I am one of the few who possess the Magic of Light anymore, I received a full blow and was stripped of a great bulk of my power. Undoubtedly," he mused, looking a little absent-minded, "my old master got his good share as well, which is likely the reason I am still alive."

"So what you're saying is," Scorpan spoke now, frowning, "that the heart of Mushromp is the only place protected with your spells now?"

The Moochick nodded, clearly pleased that Scorpan was putting one and one together.

"I am too weak to accompany you on any mission, but strong enough to hold my ground here. I can keep this place safe from the Darkness as long as Grogar is the only thing coming through the portal. As soon as he gains enough power to begin to merge the two Realms, it is likely that I will lose even that little power I have."

The Unicorn's mind, meanwhile, had been preoccupied with a different question.

"Master Moochick," she asked, fully forgotten that she was actually still angry with him, "if everyone whose power is based on Light felt the impact..." she frowned as she looked at him, "why couldn't _I_ feel anything?"

The terrible and only explanation she could think of made her shudder, but the Moochick smiled now a little, for the first time since the beginning of the conversation.

"Your power... your power is beyond good and evil, my dear," he said gently. "The power of wishes and dreams is not tied to the loose concepts of Light and Darkness. You feel naturally drawn toward the Light, and that is what makes your powers at present manifest themselves in the Light, but there is Darkness in you as well, as there is Darkness in all of us. Were you differently inclined, you could create nightmares and grant terrible, terrible wishes as easily as you now help fantasies thrive."

The Unicorn's frown cleared off. Awestruck, she stared at the Moochick. She had always imagined herself a child of Light and been certain that her magic stemmed from the same source that gave the Moochick his power. To hear now otherwise was shocking, and at first she wanted to argue. The more she thought about it, however, the more she had to admit that there was no sensible argument she could make. It was all made even more certain by the fact that she had not felt Grogar's arrival. All she had seen were the shadows and the echoes of the Moochick's emotions.

"Hang on," Scorpan said now, sounding quite puzzled. "Wishes and dreams? I'm afraid you've lost me there. And what is this about the Unicorn using her magic this morning for me?"

The Unicorn and the Moochick both looked at Scorpan, the Unicorn realising - too late - that her secret was now out. She bit her lip as she faced the Ropteran's eyes. The intent yellow eyes demanded an answer, and the scowl on Scorpan's face proved that he was not pleased for having been kept in the dark. She tried to come up with some good way to explain, but before she managed anything, the Moochick spoke.

"You must understand, Scorpan," he said kindly, "that our young friend here has had a lot to learn about herself for the past twenty years. The first thing she learned was that she could grant wishes and change people's dreams. You must admit that even you would have been sorely tempted to ask her for a few things had you known about her powers."

Scorpan averted his eyes, looking uncomfortable. After a moment of silence, he nodded.

"And I did, didn't I?" He looked up, straight at the Unicorn, pain on his face. "It was my wish, wasn't it? My wish you tried to make come true."

The Unicorn looked down and nodded. Scorpan covered his face into his hands.

"Then it's my fault," he whispered, sounding utterly devastated. "First I allowed darkness take over the Midnight Castle, and now I have let in the Lord of Darkness."

The Moochick looked impatient now.

"There is enough blame in this affair to be laid on all around," he said, shaking his head. "Dwelling on guilt will not help us drive out the Darkness."

"He's right," the Unicorn said, though Scorpan's broken expression hurt her. "We need to make a plan." She looked at the Moochick with a confused expression on her face. "But what can we do?"

The old elf looked at her.

"There is one way," he said and paused for a moment. "We must steal the Flashstone from Grogar."

The Prince of Grundles looked up in terror. Scorpan looked attentive.

"He doesn't need the Flashstone to bring Tambelon to our world," the Ropteran said with a frown.

The Moochick nodded.

"No, but we need it to drive him back," he said. "If we can get the half of a Flashstone he has, we might be able to use its power against him."

"Surely he has twisted its powers to evil by now," the Unicorn said, doubtful of this plan. "Couldn't we just find the half that was left in this world?"

The Moochick shook his head.

"No one, not even His Elevated Eminence, knows where it is," he said sadly. "Even if Ruff would still be alive, we have no way of contacting him. He disappeared after the War of Tambelon long ago."

"We must take our chances with Grogar's half of the Flashstone, then," Scorpan said with a brisk nod of the head. "For that, we will have to go into the Midnight Castle."

The Moochick smiled, though it was a weary, worn smile.

"Remember, you must not let yourselves be distracted by anything," he warned them. "Once you have the stone, you must hurry back to me so that I might study the stone and figure out the best way to use it against Grogar. If you let yourselves be drawn to fight Tirak, the Witches or, worse yet, Grogar, you will perish."

Scorpan nodded stiffly, though his yellow eyes betrayed disappointment.

"Our only mission is to retrieve the stone," the Unicorn said with a resolute tone. "We will not fail, Master Moochick."

At this point the Prince of Grundles cleared his throat.

"Ah, when you say 'we'..." He licked his lips nervously. The Unicorn looked at him and felt an instant pang of pity toward the Grundle. He had not gained much courage throughout the years she had known him, and she was sure this mission was well over his head.

"Unicorn and I shall be the ones to go into the Castle," Scorpan said, his yellow eyes now fixed on the Grundle Prince. The Prince looked relieved, but Scorpan continued: "But we will need a distraction to draw away as many of Tirak's minions as possible."

The Prince's eyes spread out very wide. "D-distraction?"

"Yes," Scorpan said with a nod. "If you think your people are ready to fight for their freedom."

For a moment the Unicorn was certain that the Prince would faint, or that he would hurriedly refuse. But while the Prince went completely pale and looked nauseous, he slowly nodded.

"I... I can't speak for the rest of the Grundles..." He swallowed and looked a good few shades more grey green. "But, for what it's worth... I'm ready."

Scorpan nodded, though he did not look convinced any more than the Unicorn felt confident.

"We will go to Grundleland first, then," Scorpan said and looked at the Moochick. "If the King will agree to help us, the Grundles will attack the Midnight Mountains and hopefully draw Tirak's attention there while the Unicorn and I slip into the Castle and try to get the Flashstone."

The Moochick nodded solemnly.

"May the Light be with you," he said quietly.

The Unicorn couldn't help but think that he might have sounded a little more confident about it.

* * *

All of the baby ponies let out a disappointed sound when Kimono closed the book.

"Awww come on!" Baby Romperooni cried. "That was a totally stupid chapter! They just talked, there was no real action! And just when we get to the good stuff, you interrupt it again!"

Kimono paid no heed to her as she picked up the book and took it to the shelf.

"Have you ever considered," she said slyly as she turned back toward the baby ponies, "that maybe I like to interrupt the story like this so that I would have you back listening to me again in the next meeting?"

Baby Romperooni looked sulky.

"But it isn't fair!" she complained.

"I wouldn't start up an argument with the Keeper of the Dreams, if I were you, little one," Kimono said calmly. "It is quite up to me to decide which baby ponies are allowed into the Story Club, and if you are too troublesome, Baby Romperooni, I might decide that you may no longer participate."

Baby Romperooni's eyes flashed wide.

"You wouldn't!" she cried with a high-pitched, almost screeching voice that made Kimono's ears hurt. She maintained a calm, matter-of-fact expression, however.

"I might," she said coolly and motioned the baby ponies to start walking toward the door. "Now, the meeting is over. Run along."

* * *

Author's Notes: This is an edited version of the chapter, to include what I originally planned to leave to the next chapter. But it seems that it is best to make this an extra long chapter instead, so you'll get the rest a bit more quickly than I originally thought. ;)


	8. A Rainbow of Love

Authorn's Notes: A long time coming, this chapter is in many ways a crucial turning point in the story, though its real significance is revealed only a little later. Thank you for all my patient readers, I hope you will enjoy the opening with, ahem, Baby Romperooni's concerned mother.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: A Rainbow of Love**

"Kimono!"

Kimono grit her teeth and looked up from the Book of Dreams and over the heads of the baby ponies. She had been about to begin her next story session - happily surprised that Baby Romperooni had not appeared that evening. She was far less happily surprised when she saw a familiar pink-purple adult pony trot in through the door, followed by her obnoxious offspring Baby Romperooni. Dazzle Surprise was wearing her usual displeased expression. Sometimes Kimono thought that her face must have been stuck on that expression or that Mrs Dazzle felt a constant distaste toward life.

Or then she just felt that distaste whenever Kimono was around. In that case, the feeling was mutual.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Dazzle," Kimono said coolly, not an ounce of real regret in her voice. "Was there something I can help you with?"

"There most certainly is!" Dazzle Surprise screeched and stomped her hoof forcefully. "I demand to know with what right have you been threatening _my daughter_?"

Kimono raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"I wasn't aware I had committed such a digression," she said calmly. The baby ponies seemed apprehensive and frightened about Dazzle Surprise's behaviour, which instinctively prompted Kimono to behave as coolly as possible. _Someone_ here should behave like an adult to calm the little ones. Then again, calmness had never been what Dazzle Surprise was best at. By far, the actress was as unpredictable as her name; but, if Kimono was permitted an opinion, nowhere near as dazzling as it would have suggested.

Of course, she was hardly ever permitted an opinion.

"Romperooni told me you had said that you might kick her out of the Story Club," Mrs Dazzle said hotly. "Do you deny saying that?"

Kimono sighed. The small raise she had received as a payment for the Story Club so did not compensate for all the aggravation she had to go through.

"I do believe that when I agreed on starting this club, I was under the impression that I would be entitled to choose which baby ponies are permitted to participate in the meetings."

"And you're going to ban _my daughter_?" Dazzle Surprise screamed.

"No," Kimono said coolly. Dazzle Surprise seemed to calm down a degree or so. Kimono's expression remained matter-of-fact. "I only warned her that I might do so if she doesn't behave herself."

Mrs Dazzle seemed instantly offended again.

"Are you implying that my daughter can't behave herself?" she demanded, sounding as though Kimono had just suggested high treason.

Well, seeing as Baby Romperooni was the Mayor's own daughter, Kimono surmised that Dazzle Surprise was within her rights to have that delusion.

"She can be a tad... loud at times." Kimono's lips curved to a pointed smile. "I wonder where she might have learned that."

Dazzle Surprise was opening her mouth for a tart retort, but seemed to realise just what Kimono was implying. For a moment she seemed too insulted to speak a word, then she lifted her chin.

"I don't see what business you have in telling the foals about the First Unicorn and all that in the first place. It all happened, oh, long ago and doesn't have anything to do with our lives anymore. You should rather read something useful to them, like _Charming and Moonbow_, for instance."

Kimono found it hard to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Ever since that particular play had come into production at the Ponyville Theatre and Dazzle Surprise had got the lead role, she had not missed a single opportunity to promote the play. Kimono had been thoroughly disappointed when the production had received excellent reviews from the critics on its first week.

"Better yet," Dazzle Surprise went on, her face brightening up as though she had just got a marvellous idea, "why don't you and the foals come and see the play? I'm sure I could get you all free tickets." She beamed at them all.

Kimono stared at her coldly.

"And I'm sure you should take that idea up in the next PTA meeting, where it belongs," she said and turned her eyes on the Book of Dreams. "Until then... if you will excuse me, Mrs Dazzle..."

Dazzle Surprise's face flushed and she stood rigid for a moment, obviously trying to come up with a good retort. When none came to her mind, she simply tossed her mane and turned sharply. Kimono listened to her offended hoof falls until they disappeared into the hallway. Then she looked at Baby Romperooni, who was the only baby pony still standing.

"Baby Romperooni, would you please close the door?" she asked kindly, and then turned her eyes back on the book. "Now, let's see..."

* * *

It was, in the end, not difficult to persuade the Grundles to their aid. The King of Grundles took the news of Grogar's return better than the Unicorn had thought he would and promised his help to them at once.

"After all," he had said, "it is our war too."

The Unicorn could not help but shy a little from the word "war". The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that it was true; there was no other word to describe the struggle that was to come. Of course, the Grundles would be the ones to feel the brunt of the enemy's blow. They would march against the superior forces of the Midnight Castle, and their only hope of survival was that Scorpan and the Unicorn would succeed in their mission before the entire Grundleland would be overcome and its inhabitants destroyed.

"I'm not sure at all about this, Scorpan," she whispered quietly as they lay hidden on a hilltop, watching down at the Midnight Castle. She shifted nervously, her eyes fixed on the dark looming castle before them. It stood on the mountain slope like a great fanged monster, snarling over the valleys below.

"Second thoughts?" Scorpan asked with a low voice, his yellow eyes gleaming in the dim light like two golden pebbles. "I can do this alone."

The Unicorn glanced at him and felt a shiver run through her. She had not had the time to sort out her thoughts and feelings about everything that had happened on the previous evening in the Moochick's living room. She had hardly said a word in goodbye to the old elf, but she was not sure if she was really angry with her mentor after all. On one hand she still blamed herself about trying her powers despite the Moochick's warnings, but on the other hand she was not sure if she could forgive the Moochick for not being specific enough in his warnings. Her head was spinning with all the different feelings she had over the matter, and she could not understand how Scorpan could manage to be so calm about it all. It was almost as though he could turn his feelings on and off at will.

Then again... one look into Scorpan's intent yellow eyes reminded the Unicorn that there were _some_ feelings he could never turn off.

"No, I'm coming with you," she said quietly. "It's only just that..." She swallowed. "What if we fail?"

"We won't fail," Scorpan said harshly. Then he suddenly wrapped his arms around her delicate body and pulled her against him, spreading his wings wide. "Now."

The Unicorn gulped and squeezed her eyes shut as the large Ropteran pounced off the cliff and dove into the air, the Unicorn tightly in his arms. She had never flown before, and she did not think that this was an especially good moment to start practicing. She had to stifle a scream as she felt the pit of her stomach lurching.

"I won't drop you," Scorpan's low voice drifted to her through the wind whistling in her ears, and she forced one eye open. Holding her breath, she took in the landscape below her. It seemed so far away...

She opened both of her eyes carefully. Scorpan's arms clasped her tightly. It felt safe enough... or would have, had it not been for the fact that she could not feel anything steady underneath her freely hanging back feet. She gulped again and tried to squeeze herself in closer to Scorpan. To distract herself from the vast distance between them and the ground, she looked up to the castle. To her surprise she realised that they were already nearly there.

She made a mental note to herself to remember that flying seemed to be an infinitely faster way of getting around than galloping.

"You won't fly right in, will you?" she asked, but realised that the wind snatched her words right off her lips, and she had to raise her voice to be heard. "Shouldn't we go round the back?"

"I know a good spot," Scorpan said. His wings folded suddenly, and the unexpected dive down toward the hard cold ground again nearly made the Unicorn scream. She gulped and squeezed her eyes shut.

She decided she didn't really like flying at all.

"Are we there yet?" she peeped, when she felt them slowing down again. Scorpan's wings spread out like a giant cloak, swelling in the rising air current. The Ropteran floated gently to the ground.

"Yes." Scorpan let the Unicorn slide off his arms, his own yellow eyes fixed up, scanning the surroundings. "I don't think they spotted us. Safe landing." He looked down at her harshly. "No thanks to your wiggling."

The Unicorn shook herself, partially to sort out her mane, partially to shake off the queasy feeling. She glared up at him. "I've never flown before, you know," she noted acidly. "You're lucky I didn't scream when you grabbed me."

Scorpan shrugged it off and started to walk on the edge of the wall. "You always said you wanted me to carry you when I went for a flight."

The Unicorn chose not to reply to that. Instead, she started after him, stepping carefully on the slippery stones at the base of the wall. "Where are we going, exactly?" she asked, looking round cautiously. "We're still outside the wall, you know."

"There's a secret passageway."

The Unicorn looked at him dubiously. "Don't you think Tirak would have it guarded by now?"

"He wouldn't know about it," Scorpan said with a shrug. "It was never shown to him, and it hasn't been marked down to any plans. I don't think he would have found it."

The Unicorn, who had learned a great deal about magic by now, was not so sure but decided to not utter her suspicions. She followed Scorpan quietly as the two of them walked to a place in the wall where a beautiful ivy snaked on the wall, climbing ever higher toward the tall towers. Scorpan pushed aside some of the dark purple leaves to reveal the smallest knob in the stone wall. The Ropteran glanced over his shoulder with a crude grin and pushed the knob. The Unicorn held her breath. There was a click - and nothing more. The Unicorn was a little disappointed. She had expected part of the wall to sink in, or blocks of stone move magically aside, or something. Instead, there was simply the sound of a lock being undone, and Scorpan pressed his shoulder to the wall and pushed the door open, unceremoniously just like that. The Unicorn wrinkled her nose a bit but let it lie and followed the Ropteran inside.

The tunnel was anything but well ventilated and spatious. The Unicorn, who was a slender creature, kept bumping her horn to the walls every time she turned her head and she could not understand how Scorpan was able to even squeeze his enormous hulk through the narrow passageway. The dust hanging in the air was almost tangible, and the Unicorn had to rub her nose against her chest in order to stop it from itching all the time.

Suddenly Scorpan stopped so abruptly that the Unicorn bumped into him, her horn stabbing him painfully to the side. Yet the Ropteran did not even flinch. The Unicorn looked up, her mouth opening for a question, but she closed it again when she saw the expression on his face. He was standing in front of a narrow slit in the wall, a kind of a peep-through window. He stood rigid, poised, staring out stoically. He looked... sad, tense.

"It's begun."

Scorpan's voice sounded strained, tense. The Unicorn frowned and reached her neck up, peering through the window. What she saw froze her heart. The window gave out to the courtyard below, and there, marching toward the gates, she saw dozens and dozens of muscular, brusque Ropterans in formation. There were winged ones, like Scorpan, as well as wingless. Some of the Ropterans even had horns. They all bore swords or spears, looking as battle-ready as Scorpan looked, standing beside her.

It was the Midnight Army marching to battle against the Grundle Army that was, according to the plan, gathering to the border of the Midnight Kingdom at that very moment.

"They don't stand a chance," the Unicorn whispered. There was no uncertainty of which army she meant.

"I should have stayed with the Grundles," Scorpan said with a choked voice. "They would have needed my sword today."

The Unicorn looked at Scorpan.

"I need your sword as well," she said, then smiled as she recalled what the Prince of Grundles had told the Ropteran earlier. "And your wings. I definitely need your wings."

Scorpan glanced at the Unicorn with a lopsided smile. The Unicorn was sure he, too, remembered the words she had just echoed. Then his smile faded and he turned to continue on his way along the tunnel.

"We need to hurry," was all he would say.

* * *

Scorpan stopped to another small peephole in the wall. This time it did not give out to the yard but rather inside a large room. The unicorn peered through carefully while Scorpan looked for a lever that would open the door in the wall. She saw Tirak at once. There was a large stone throne in the middle of the room, and there sat a handsome, large beast. She felt a shudder go through her at the sight of the four hooves and the muscular, red body so much like her own in conformation. She had not expected this; she had always imagined Tirak was a Ropteran like Scorpan, perhaps a horned one.

Well, he did have horns. Large, heavy-looking black oxen horns sprouted from both sides of Tirak's human head. That was where his similarity to the Unicorn's expectations ended. The roots of the horns were hidden from sight by thick, smooth black hair extending low down the centaur's back. His features from waist up were those of a human's; however, his body was entirely covered in fierce red fur. Black tail, so much like her own, curled over the throne armrest. Yellow eyes shone intently in the middle of intelligent, well-shaped features. Though the Unicorn did not think much of human beauty, she had to admit that Tirak was very handsome.

"We are going to crush them this time," spoke a shrill, annoying voice which the Unicorn immediately recognised. She took her eyes off of Tirak and looked further around the room. She almost gasped. There, beside another, equally short but much plumber woman, stood the witch she had met twenty years ago. It was Hydia, the Witch of Gloom Valley - and, as the Unicorn suspected as she examined the woman standing next to her, her mother.

And next to these two... the Unicorn had to stifle another gasp. The creature stood tall and proud next to the witches, his head held high and two fierce red eyes glowing like burning embers in the dim light of the throne room. She knew at once who this was. It had to be Grogar. He was everything Scorpan had described, and more. He stood twelve hands high, that was one and half hands taller than the Unicorn. She was surprised that he was not taller; however his impressive blue-black horns more than made up for it. And there... around his neck...

"Scorpan," she whispered as quietly as she could, "I can see the Flashstone."

She felt him move closer. He bent over to peer through the peephole, and she felt him draw in a sharp breath.

"The Grundles cannot possibly match my troops in battle," Tirak now spoke; obviously they had dropped in the middle of a conversation. He had a frown on his face. "I cannot help but wonder what has stirred them so much. This is not at all like them. It is too aggressive... too bold."

"Perhaps," now the Lord of Darkness spoke, and his voice was rumbling, deep, "someone has warned them of my coming. Perhaps they believe this is their last stand."

The Witches laughed. "And so it shall be!" they jeered. "We will crush them, and end this ridiculous rebellion. Once we have taken the Grundles, we will turn to the Mushromp."

Tirak stirred; Grogar turned to examine the Witches curiously. "The Mushromp?" he asked. "Why?"

"In your absence from this world, my lord," Tirak said quietly, "a man called the Moochick has made his home on the Mushromp. His magic is strong; too strong for even the Witches to penetrate. It is the final fortress of Light."

Grogar's lips curled to a grotesque smile. "Then it shall be my final prize." He looked at the Witches. "Now - go with this army to meet the Grundles. Crush them - and bring me the head of their King."

The Witches smiled and took their leave. The Unicorn smiled.

"Excellent," she whispered to Scorpan. "Now we only need to create a diversion so that one of us can steal the Flashstone." She frowned, looking at Grogar. "Too bad he's carrying it around his neck. It's going to be difficult... Scorpan! What are you doing?" She snatched his tail into a firm grip of her teeth, holding him back. He had gone to the trap door and put his clawed hand on the lever as if to about to open the door. "Remember what Master Moochick said," she hissed through her teeth. "Keep your mind on the mission!"

"I am," he replied and jerked his tail loose from between her teeth. His yellow eyes had the familiar burn as he looked at her. "I'm going to create a diversion. Meanwhile, you wink to Grogar and get the Flashtone. Be ready - you're not going to get a second chance."

The Unicorn shook her head stubbornly. "No!" She tried to get a hold of his tail again. "You're _not _going to sacrifice yourself, you hear me?"

Scorpan growled impatiently. "It's the only chance we've got," he hissed back. "Trust me I would not make this sacrifice if I didn't think it was worth it. They don't even know you exist yet. They won't expect you. You can wink in and out quickly enough to get the stone and escape with it." His yellow eyes looked at her, filled with plea. "Unicorn, don't you see? It's my destiny. And yours."

The Unicorn swallowed. She glanced through the peephole and saw Tirak and Grogar talking. She knew Scorpan could never survive taking them both on at the same time. Even if he had wings... would he be able to escape with his life?

And then... if she was willing to risk the Grundles to save the Realm of Dreams, why would she not risk Scorpan?

She heard the lever go down. She knew there was nothing she could do. He would do what he thought was the best. For everything he believed in. For guilt, for vengeance... for hope. She glanced toward him one last time. The yellow eyes swept over her one last time. She smiled as she watched him tense, like a spring ready to be released, full of life. This was the way she wanted to remember him.

And then he was gone, through the door, and she turned her head, almost as though she were in a hazy dream. It all felt so unreal. She saw Scorpan's powerful body blast out of the secret passageway and into the throne room, roaring like a mad beast. His wings half unfolded, his fangs and claws sharp, glistening in the candlelight, his sword drawn, he pounced at the throne, his brother's name like a curse on his lips. Grogar stirred, stepped back, stared. Tirak staggered up from his throne, his eyes wide, his arms raised as if to protect himself while his hooves clawed on the dark marble floor, looking for a hold.

The world stopped to that brief moment for the Unicorn. For a moment she saw it all like a frozen image, and she knew that this memory would be locked inside her forever. If this was the last memory she would have of Scorpan - then it was a glorious one. She was sure he would be proud.

Then, as though time itself exploded, everything blasted into action again. Scorpan was still screaming. Tirak's hands came down from covering his body, to his horse flanks where he carried swords. Finally taking firm hold of the ground, his hooves held, then he crouched - and pounced. Claw against steel, the former blood brothers met in midair. Grogar still stood, staring.

_Now,_ she told herself.

She was sure she had never concentrated so much on any thought in her entire life. Gathering her magic, she felt the air quiver around her. She focused on the narrow opening in the wall, the air that floated to and fro through the peephole. The air that was stirred by the hooves and claws and swords and flesh of the fighting couple. Through this she must go. Become one with the air, momentarily, to travel through it. In one... short... moment!

Blink.

She opened her eyes, realizing she had closed them again. Something stirred next to her - she jumped. There it was! The chain on which the Flashstone hung! She had made it!

Eagerly she reached for it, her teeth opening - then closing, snap! The chain felt cold on her lips.

That was all she had time for before Grogar turned, swirled around like a gust of wind. Snarling, the great dark blue beast came at her, his dangerous horns bearing down on her. She gasped but would not let go of the chain. She must have the Flashstone! Everything depended on it! She tugged, as hard as she could, hoping that the chain would snap.

It did not snap.

The blast rang in her ears as the hard edge of the horn landed on her skull, sending her flying through the air like a wet rag. She nearly lost her teeth, so tight she clung on to the chain, but her grip slipped when the horn hit her to the side of her mouth. Coughing and spitting blood, she struggled back to her feet - too late. Another blast came, this time on her other shoulder as a heavy cloven hoof kicked her. She was tossed back and slid on the floor a good few paces. The Unicorn gasped and looked up, white stars dancing in her eyes as she tried to focus them.

The Lord of Darkness was advancing on her now.

_I must wink,_ she told herself breathlessly, but none of her muscles moved and her magic never even stirred. She panted, staring at the dark creature bearing down on her like an angry thundercloud. _Wink, damn it!_ she commanded herself, but something inside her was frozen with fear and pain. She could hardly see in front of her.

"Unicorn!"

Grogar turned to look over his shoulder. Scorpan had seen what had happened. He ducked as Tirak swung his swords again, then the Ropteran rolled on the ground to get away from his former blood brother. Back on his feet, Scorpan suddenly unfolded his wings fully and jumped into the air, his sword raised into a deadly blow. He came right at Grogar.

"No," the Unicorn whispered, but she knew Scorpan could not hear her and even if he would, he was not likely to listen.

Grogar snarled. "You fool!" he half growled, half laughed. He brought one hoof up, on the Flashstone. A dark red glow enveloped the black-blue stone, then blasted out. The beam hit Scorpan squarely on the chest, breaking against him like a snowball, sending sprinkles of light everywhere. There was a sizzling, cracking sound and Scorpan was sent flying back by the impact. His body hit the opposite wall several feet away. There was not even an "oof". The Ropteran's body simply fell limply into a broken heap of flaccid arms and legs.

"No!" the Unicorn was crying now. The winking happened practically automatically. She was beside him before she knew it, kneeling next to his fallen body. She had the time to see his yellow eyes rolling backward in their sockets and one finger twitching - and then he was quiet. Crying uncontrollably, she swung around to face Tirak and Grogar, who were now both advancing on them. "You _killed _him!" she screamed, helpless with anger and pain.

"Yes," Grogar mused, chuckling. His pupilless, red eyes glowed as he walked ever closer, the Flashstone now glowing as it hung around his neck in a silver chain. "And now it's your turn."

The Unicorn trembled. Her every muscle felt limp and useless. She was half lying, half crouching on the ground, as though to protect Scorpan's heavy body with her own slender form. There was nowhere to run; but she could not think of running. Their mission had failed. She had failed. Everything was lost.

She glanced back at Scorpan. He had been like a brother to him. She had loved him so dearly. But what good was love? What good was love if it did not save those you loved? There was no power in love. She looked back at Grogar and Tirak. Anger set in her eyes stronger than pain. _By the Light, _she thought to herself,_ there _is _power in love!_

"I wish," she whispered, first softly, then louder, defiant, tears still glistening in her eyes, and by the end she was already shouting; "I wish that my love became a power, stronger than Darkness!"

Instantly her horn was enveloped by an intense blue glow, and from there it expanded over her entire body until she was aflame with the sapphire fire. Tirak and Grogar hesitated. The Unicorn's blue eyes glowed, tears in her eyes sparkling, as she stood up prouder, feeling the power fill her. It coursed through her veins, pulsated in her soul, made her heart swell - until finally, it shot out from the tip of her horn, a swirling, wondrous band of colour. Like a ribbon with a mind of its own, the glowing rainbow in all the happy colours of Light snaked through the air as though it were dancing of joy.

Tirak and Grogar took several steps back.

The rainbow swirled in the air, faster and faster, in ever-quickening loops, closer and closer to the centaur and the ram, until it finally blasted out at them. It was like the New Year's rockets, the Unicorn thought hazily as she watched the rainbow she had created scatter into zillions of little beams and shards of light upon impact on Tirak and Grogar, sending them now flying backwards the same way Grogar had sent Scorpan.

The Unicorn looked at Scorpan's fallen body, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Scorpan."

That was the last thing she thought before the exhaustion took her over and she collapsed.

* * *

The foals were sitting on the edges of their pillows when Kimono lifted her head up and looked at them. The dozens of eyes glistening with anticipation made Kimono smile gently.

"I'm sorry, little ones," she said. "But I think it's best to stop here for the time being. We have had quite enough excitement for one day."

There were a lot of disappointed noises, but eventually Kimono managed to persuade all the foals that it was best to stop for the evening and usher them out of the Dream Room. She could not help but shudder a little and steal a glance toward the corner where Crescent Crystal remained hidden as she thought of what was coming soon in the story. She was sure she would need to talk with Crescent Crystal about it afterwards.

* * *

Author's Notes: In this chapter I'm especially interested to hear opinions about the scene of the creation of the rainbow. What did you think? Any guesses to the significance of the event? On the other hand, did you think I portrayed the event clearly enough? Did you get confused? ...or anything else you think I should know about this chapter or the scene.


	9. Abyss of No Soul

Author's Notes: This chapter finally introduces the Black Pony who I've been dying to get into the story. Also we're beginning to pick up the pace now as far as events are concerned.**  
**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Abyss of No Soul**

Kimono was not particularly surprised to notice that all the baby ponies were already crowded behind the door of the Dream Room to wait for her. She smiled to Baby Romperooni, who had been behaving a great deal better ever since Dazzle Surprise had paid Kimono a visit during the last meeting. She had undoubtedly realized that there was precious little her mother could do if Kimono chose to throw her out, and she obviously really wanted to know what happened next in the story.

Not wanting to delay long, Kimono let the baby ponies inside and went calmly to her place under the Unicorn's portrait. There she opened the book and cleared her throat to begin reading.

* * *

Blue eyes fluttered open. At first she could see nothing, but soon her eyes began to get used to the darkness. The first thing she saw was a red glow. That was somehow... familiar?

Grogar!

She gasped, her clear blue eyes wide, as she snatched her head up from the cold floor. She was met by two glowing red eyes, only a few feet away. The black-blue Flashstone was glowing red as well.

Where was Scorpan? She looked around but could not see the Ropteran anywhere. As she looked, something blue caught her eye. She frowned and looked again. Her eyes widened some more when she realized that the something blue was, in fact, her own tail. It had turned blue! She moved it slightly, as though to test it, and the sapphire locks wriggled over the dark marble stones. Her tail was now the same clear sapphire blue as her eyes. Immediately she tossed her head a little to allow her mane to fall over her neck - and exactly as she had suspected, her snow white hair had now turned sapphire blue, save for a single lock of hair which she could only barely see.

"Done admiring yourself?" a sarcastic, evil voice asked. The Unicorn jumped a little and turned to look at Grogar again. He stood tall and ominous, staring at her with a mean look on his grotesque face. She swallowed and flattened her ears.

"Where's Scorpan? What did you do to him?" She struggled to stand up, but found it was more difficult than usually. Confused, she looked down, only to find that her legs were chained with heavy iron shackles. Her head felt strangely heavy too, and as she shook it she realized there was an extra weight. "What have you done to me?"

Grogar eyed her lazily. Tirak stood a little farther off, examining her with an expressionless face.

"I have never met one called a 'Unicorn'," the great ram said. "But I am not a fool. Your powers are somehow linked to that horn. Logically... I have made my very best to ensure you will not be able to use it."

The Unicorn glared at Grogar. She could only guess that he had somehow also chained her horn; exactly how, she could not tell. She was uncertain if she should attempt winking: she was not convinced that she could wink through chains, especially with her horn enclosed in metal like this. It felt like some kind of a mask on her head, leather straps binding the iron mask on its place.

"What do you want with me?" she spat angrily. "Why didn't you just kill me?"

"A valid question," came another voice - it was Tirak. The large centaur was standing a few paces to the side, eying her with some amount of caution. Then the yellow eyes turned to Grogar, inquiring. "I fail to see..."

"Precisely," Grogar hissed, his voice taunting. "You are blind, Tirak. I am surprised you ever got this far, but I suppose the Witches concocted most of your plans so far." Tirak's face went flat; he was clearly offended. "But no matter," Grogar chuckled as he approached the Unicorn. She refused to shrink back though it was her first instinct. "I am here to think for the both of us now. And what I see... is power."

Unicorn stared at Grogar, her ears flat against her skull, crouched near the ground. She was afraid. Grogar's red eyes were like empty vacuums of darkness, glowing a light that was not light, sucking in all true light until nothing was left. She felt her hooves trembling slightly as she tried to stand taller and face him. She was so weak...

"I will not ask you how you created that Rainbow," Grogar said slowly, stopping very close to the Unicorn, so close that she could feel his hot breath on her fur. "You would not explain. But no matter. I can find out for myself."

And, to the Unicorn's horror, Grogar lowered his head and pressed his forehead against the Unicorn's horn, she could feel the pressure though the metal prevented her from feeling the touch directly. She gasped and tried to pull back, but he pushed harder, and she could not prevent the touch.

It was as though her very soul was invaded. A great dark conscience rushed through her, she could feel her consciousness flutter and dwindle like a candle in the wind, cowering underneath the magnificent presence that threatened to engulf her heart, her soul... her entire being. She gasped, but was not sure if she could feel her body anymore. Everything was darkness - the same darkness she remembered from her first experiment at wishing. It was the darkness where she was not herself, she did not exist, and yet she was, and would always be... in this darkness she would forget who she was, where she was, and she would never know the way home.

Distantly she remembered, like an echo from a distant past, a name. That name had brought her back once... if only she could remember. She tried to reach for the sound of that name, call out for the one who had then - who was he again? - called her to consciousness. His voice had brought such great comfort to her at that time of her direst need.

_Scorpan..._ It was not the name she had looked for, not her own name, but it was another name, almost as familiar, and certainly as dear to her as the one she had sought to hear. _Scorpan!_

The Unicorn gasped, and like a drowning animal, she plunged herself out of the darkness and into the sweet, blinding light - into consciousness. She tore herself free from Grogar, staggering back in her chains until she fell to the floor. The dark blue ram stared down at her, an evil smile curving his lips.

"Quite unnecessary, little one," he said with a chuckle. "I already saw everything I needed to see. So..." he approached her, a predatory expression on his face, "you are the one who invited me here. You are the one who opened the portal. I am impressed."

She was trembling now, staring at him with wide eyes. She wanted to yell at him, tell him it had never been her intention - but she couldn't. Fear gripped her, a terror so deep and dark that it ate her from the inside, crippling her.

Grogar laughed. "Afraid, little one? Oh, you shouldn't be. After all, you have already made yourself my servant. You will be useful."

"Never!" she gasped, horrified.

"Yes," he murmured as he approached her. "You will be my slave. Willingly - or by force, the choice is yours."

"No!" she yelled again, and the power of her own voice surprised her. It gave her strength. He could not control her. He could chain her and hold her, but he could not make her do his bidding. She was free. Her soul was free, no matter what was done to her body. She narrowed her eyes and rose up on her haunches, pressed her head down, jutted her horn forward, threatening. "Never," she hissed.

He paused for a moment, one forehoof raised, staring at her. For one wild moment she thought she had managed to shake his confidence, that she might yet win this battle of wills - then he smiled. It was a smile of profound malice, one that froze the Unicorn's heart.

"I see you need some convincing," he said. "Very well."

And he raised his hoof up, to the black-blue amulet hanging around his neck. She watched as he touched the amulet - it began to glow a fierce red light. Then he lowered his hoof again and raised his head. Slowly the blazing red light enveloped Grogar entirely and his red eyes were an even deeper hue as he stared down at the Unicorn. Cold shivers ran up and down her spine - she waited.

"Come," he then called, with a booming voice, and she could feel something pulling at her, a force that was stronger than the iron shackles around her hooves and horn. Gritting her teeth, she planted her hooves down and jutted her head down lower, refusing the pull. Grogar lowered his head and his gleaming black-blue horns cast dark shadows over his face. "Come!" he commanded again with a voice so loud it shook the foundations of the castle.

Yet the Unicorn would not move. She felt the pull of the magic all over her, strangling her. Her hooves slipped slightly on the dark marble floor.

_Come!_

Now the pull of the magic increased tenfold, and the Unicorn half whinnied, half cried in pain as she pushed against the pull with all the strength she had, magical and physical - she _must_ be free! Free! Free!

...free...

"Ohh!" There was a strange snapping feeling inside her, like part of her suddenly came loose and tore itself free of her, and she fell backward and collapsed as she felt the power of the pull suddenly ease from her. Dizzy, she looked up, eyes half-closed at first but soon very wide.

Grogar, too, had a look of absolute amazement on his face - this was obviously not what he had intended. In front of him stood another pony. If it could be called a pony. It was hard to tell if it was more matter or mere spirit, hovering just a few inches above the ground. It had the form of a pony exactly like the Unicorn, with a spiralling horn in the middle of its forehead - but that was where the similarity ended. This pony's outlines shimmered and shifted and its eyes, white and iridescent like prism hit by sunlight, had no expression. Black as the night, this pony was a pool of darkness - a pool of shadows.

Graceful, yet terrible, the phantom pony turned its head slightly, to look at the Unicorn. Across what felt like an endless gulf of time and space the two ponies stared at one another, one in fear, one in complete silence. Then,

"I am free," the black shadow whispered. Its voice echoed of a thousand tones, male and female, young and old, and it was without age and without gender.

The Unicorn was shaking violently. "What did you do?" she whispered, then her blue eyes turned to Grogar and she spoke louder, tears streaming from her eyes across her cheeks. "What did you do?" she screamed, half crying.

Grogar paid no attention to the Unicorn. The red glow had subsided. His eyes rested solely on the dark apparition he had apparently just created. He took a step closer to the phantom who now turned to regard him, emotionless, cold.

"What are you?" Grogar murmured, and there was no telling if the question was directed at the apparition or if it was a mere musing of his own.

At any rate, the black pony felt no need for explanation. Its liquid eyes stared at Grogar for a moment in silence. Then the eyelids shifted, allowing a hint that the pony's gaze moved lower.

_The Flashstone,_ the Unicorn realised, perhaps a fraction of a second sooner than Grogar did. But either way, it was already too late. The phantom pony leapt forward, suddenly baring a white set of teeth. Grogar had time but to flinch before the teeth clasped the amulet in their iron grip.

Grogar growled and pulled back, his horns coming down on the shadow pony like they had once come down on the Unicorn. The Unicorn expected a loud crunch at the impact, instead there was a soft whoosh as the black-blue horns slipped right through the dark surface that should have been the black pony's skin and bone.

_By the Light,_ the Unicorn thought in terror. _What has he done? What is that thing?_

Grogar growled louder when he realised he could not hit the shadow pony even though it, for its behalf, was well able to hold on to the Flashstone. "Tirak!" he yelled. "Help me!"

But there was no time. The tug-of-war between Grogar and the shadow pony seemed to ignite the Flashstone, and an angry red glow was growing. It seemed as though the will of Grogar and the pony were battling for control of the amulet as they were both touching it now. When the shadow pony then, for the last time, pulled hard, an explosion of red light blasted out of the stone, sending destructive rays to every direction. Tirak had to take cover from the ground and Grogar screamed - that was all the Unicorn had time to see or hear before the beam hit her.

She was blasted backwards, a good few feet, sliding on the marble floor. She raised her head and shook it, dizzy but conscious. At first she did not understand why she was not unconscious, or worse, dead - but then she could feel that the weight on her head and in her feet were gone. She looked down - it was true, the shackles were gone. The beam must have hit the shackles first.

She was free! Quickly she was on her feet, to see what was happening. She saw Tirak first, lying on the ground, then she saw Grogar, shaking his head and tottering from side to side - and finally, there was the shadow pony. It stood tall, graceful, so much like she herself, she knew - and in his mouth he was holding the black-blue stone, loose from its chain. Her heart leapt.

"You!" she shouted to the pony. What should she call it, anyway? "Come with me!"

The iridescent eyes turned to regard her - or so she believed when the graceful head turned to look at her. For a moment she dared to hope. Then a cruel, emotionless smile tugged at the creature's mouth.

"Some day," it replied, shimmered and faded like a shadow chased away by sunlight - and then it was gone.

And so was the Flashstone.

The Unicorn stared numbly after the disappeared pony. It was gone. The Flashstone was gone. She gulped.

"No!" It was Grogar's voice. She jumped and turned her head. The ram had shaken away the stupor and was now standing, rage written on his face, staring at the spot where the black pony had been just a moment ago. Then the glowing red eyes turned to the Unicorn.

_Run!_ she told herself, and this time her feet obeyed. With just a few leaps, she was at the window. She could hear Grogar and Tirak running after her, shouting. She knew they would catch her quickly. The Unicorn jumped on the window sill, balanced there for a moment, her blue eyes searching for a place to wink to - then her hooves slipped.

She let out a scream as she fell. This was _not_ the best way to begin learning how to fly! Frantically, she looked around - winking was her only chance. But where to wink? Where to... there! The spot caught her eye. Blink! She was gone.

Reappearing safely on the ground, she let out a breath. Then it was time to gallop and wink again. She must run, run, run, to safety, quickly. Panic inherited from a consciousness that was imprinted into her species, on every fibre of her body took her over and she thought of nothing but escape as she speeded away from the Midnight Castle.

* * *

"Ooh!" one of the baby ponies peeped, sounding fascinated, when Kimono closed the book. "So, so that's why she's got blue hair! That's so cool! But what about her symbol? She's got a symbol in the painting."

Kimono smiled and corrected her reading glasses on her nose. "That will come later, little ponies."

"You're always saying that!" Baby Romperooni complained, shuffling her feet.

"Well, that's because it's always true."

"Okay, well, at least tell us what that black shadow thing was. I've never heard of a pony like that," Baby Romperooni said, looking at Kimono with her eyes wide.

Now Kimono's face became more serious and she had to fight the urge to glance to the corner where she knew Crescent Crystal to be. "Ah... that... that was the Black Pony."

Baby Romperooni's eyes still betrayed no sign of recognition, but Kimono was sure she could see a glade of white shifting in the darkness of the corner.

"Who's the Black Pony?" Romperooni asked.

"The Black Pony is..." Kimono shifted her hooves uncomfortably and corrected her glasses once more. "He is a very evil pony. Now, run along, children. You will hear more when the time is right."

The baby ponies were disappointed, but the youngest left without another word. They were obviously upset about the dark turn of events in the story. Kimono sighed as she watched them go. Perhaps this had been a mistake after all.

She was reminded of another potential mistake when she heard footsteps approaching her as soon as the door was closed after the last baby pony. Kimono turned to look at the fragile little unicorn that approached her. Crescent Crystal's silver eyes were wide and filled with tears, and as soon as Kimono turned to look at her she galloped the last few feet and collapsed into Kimono's hooves.

Quietly Kimono wrapped her hooves around the little baby pony, comforting her as she cried. After a few moments Crescent Crystal pulled back a little and looked up at Kimono. "That... that was my..." She gulped. "My grandfather, wasn't it?"

Kimono looked at Crescent Crystal, sorrow in her eyes. Quietly she nodded.

"And... and you call him... Abyss," Crescent whispered, "Abyss of No Soul. Because he was... he was created..."

"Without a soul, yes," Kimono whispered, caressing Crescent's head gently.

"But... Grogar's spell... I don't understand," the little foal said, looking confused and hurt.

Kimono shook her head. "You don't have to understand yet," she said calmly. "But you will, when the time comes. The story is not over... and there's much more you need to know."

_Although,_ she thought to herself, _possibly much more than I can tell you._

Crescent Crystal nodded, pressing her head against Kimono's chest for a moment. Then she nodded again and disentangled herself from the older pony.

"Can I still stay?" she asked quietly. "To hear the rest?"

Kimono nodded slowly. She could not send her away now - not yet. "I will tell you everything I can."

The white baby unicorn nodded quietly, but there was a distant look in her silver eyes. There was much she did not understand.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yes, it's a little cryptic - it's meant to be. The details of Crescent Crystal's ancestry and Black Pony will come later - much later. I just love dropping off hints, don't I?


	10. The Sunstone

Author's Notes: And time to muse a little about what has been going on. Not a filler, mind you - I don't really write fillers. But there will be some background revealed again.

* * *

**Chapter Ten: The Sunstone**

It was the fifth day that Crescent Crystal had stayed in the Dream Room. Five evenings had gone by, and she had listened to the story of the First Unicorn with the other baby ponies, without anyone knowing she was there. Five days she had remained in the confines of the room, either waiting for Kimono to come by with food or walking around, watching the tapestries and paintings on the walls.

Now, the truth was that she could have gone and finished the Book of Dreams any time she wished; she knew how to read and Kimono had even offered her the opportunity after the initial shock of finding her there. She had seemed to think it might have been the best course of action. Of course, Crescent Crystal understood why. Kimono did not want her there. It was dangerous for the both of them, but especially so for Kimono. If she were caught harbouring the heir of the Black Pony, daughter of Oblivion... she would have been in trouble with her superiors. Yet she had allowed Crescent to stay, against her better judgement, probably guided by pity.

Crescent Crystal could have finished the book and left at any time - but she did not want to. She did not think she had any place to go anymore. She had ran away from her mother and knew she would be cross. And then... Crescent really liked it here. She liked Ponyville, and she liked watching the other baby ponies and imagining how it would have been to be one of them. To be... normal.

Her life had never been normal. Ever since she could remember, her mother had told her she was something special. She had told her she was to be the Princess of Ponyland and the Heir to the Throne, and that her mother Dark Crescent was to be the Queen. It was not until they accidentally met a few Ponyvillians and her mother killed them that Crescent Crystal understood. She understood the lies her mother had told her. Dark Crescent was the Queen of Ponyville only in her fantasies. And when Crescent had realised the truth - she had run. She had not known where to go, but she had followed the tracks of the Ponyvillians as best she could to find her way here.

She still did not know where she was going - but at least she was now learning where she was coming from. And as anxious as she was to find out everything about what had gone on in the distant past, to better understand her present, her young mind was also more and more occupied with thoughts of the future. Crescent Crystal was not a little child anymore. She was in that stage of development which in a pony's life is a stepping stone between childhood and maturity. She looked much younger than she really was, and her mother seemed to know why that was. Apparently it had something to do with her father. Him of whom Dark Crescent never spoke. Crescent often wondered what he was like, or where he was, and why he was not with her mother anymore. Since finding out about the darkness inside her mother new prospects, frightening prospects of what might have happened to him had begun to surface. She was suddenly afraid to find out.

She sighed as she looked at the door, waiting for Kimono and the baby ponies to come in for their daily Story Club meeting. She kept telling herself it was stupid to stay here and put herself as well as Kimono in danger. But she felt drawn to these ponies. She had never known a life like the carefree, settled life they lived. They all had homes. Crescent Crystal had never had a home - Dark Crescent never stayed long in one place. What a different existence it must be. And so, curiosity, as well as contemplation of future - what would she do with herself once she had answered all the questions of her past? - made her stay, even against her better judgement.

* * *

The Unicorn was already far from the castle by the time she remembered Scorpan. The sun was high in the sky but the world remained dark as she looked at the Midnight Castle from another mountain. She was sure she would never get used to the darkness. Her sky blue eyes examined the silhouette of the castle. Tears on her cheeks glimmered in the faint light. She did not even know if Scorpan was alive anymore. She had been convinced he was dead when he fell, but some part of her refused to believe it. Now she was likely to never know.

Should she go back? She considered it, now that the panic had subsided enough for her to think clearly again. But even though her heart told her yes, her mind reminded her it would be lunacy, if not worse. She could not go back. She would be captured and more of her magic drained from her.

If that, indeed, was what had happened in the first place. She frowned as she recollected the dark pony that had emerged when Grogar had used his powers and the power of the Flashstone onto her. What had happened? She had felt something of herself coming loose, breaking free. But what was it? It had had the general appearance of a pony, but all the qualities of a shadow. She shook her head. She did not understand.

And what of the wonderful rainbow of light she had created in her own and Scorpan's defence? What had happened to it? Where was it now? Why had it not destroyed Grogar and Tirak? Was it still inside her? Could she call it out again? She did not know.

She did not even know what she should do now. She could not go back to the castle - they would know to expect her now. And besides, even if she managed to save Scorpan everything would be lost. Time was important now.

Not that it mattered. She looked down at her hooves, tears falling from her eyes. She had failed the only important mission she had ever been given. She had failed Scorpan and likely got him killed. She had lost the Flashstone. There was no telling where it was now. There was nothing she could do.

She considered going back to the Moochick, but only for a short moment. The Unicorn was convinced he would not be able to help her. The only advice he had had was that they should obtain the Flashstone from Grogar. Now that that had failed - what good was it to tell the Moochick of the failure? She sighed and turned away, beginning her slow descent along the mountain slope, setting her course aimlessly. She was not sure if she could even face the Moochick to tell him about what had happened, let alone ask for his advice.

Quietly, her head hanging low, sapphire blue locks hanging limp on her neck, she walked. She did not even care if Tirak's minions saw her. It was perhaps a sheer miracle that they did not. She did nothing to hide herself, but perhaps it was the winding path through the forests that kept her safe, or that she was small enough to go unnoticed. Perhaps no one else simply cared either.

Either way, the Unicorn did not know how long it had been until she neared on the end of the forest. There she suddenly saw a faint flicker of light through the trees, filtered through the groping branches and fluttering leaves. She paused and lifted her head lazily, a disinterested look on her face. She was not sure why she felt obligated to take a look before going any further. Perhaps it was another instinct, inherited from ancestors she did not have. Instincts - they were another mystery she had never been able to figure out.

At first she thought she had perhaps reached the borders of Mushromp - that somehow, the Moochick had managed to get the Mushromp back fully under his control and had spread out light everywhere as a sign of hope. It was this thought alone, perhaps, that encouraged her ears prick up as she approached the source of light carefully. But the closer she got, the more clearly she could see that this light did not come from the Mushromp. It was a flickering light, moving here and there, back and forth, just beyond the trees. Frowning, her curiosity now piqued, she started to trot, then canter - until she came to a full stop at the edge of the forest. There was a meadow on the other side - and what the Unicorn saw on the meadow stopped her heart for just a moment.

The source of the light was a splendid ribbon of colour, zigzagging through the air playfully and bouncing here and there. The Unicorn recognised it immediately; it was the very same rainbow of light she had created in the Midnight Castle before passing out. She stared in disbelief. How had it got here? And what _was_ it doing? She stared in dumbfounded silence at the little creatures fumbling after the rainbow, apparently trying to catch it. The creatures were small, about the size of the Unicorn's head or even smaller. Two of them were different shades of green, one of them was orange and the last two - in every way identical - were pink. They had smooth, mushy-looking skin and two white extensions growing out of the backs of their heads. On top of their heads each of them had what seemed to be a hat like the mushroom's top, and their hands and feet were short and stubby. They had small round ears and no real noses, and the two pink ones seemed to be the only ones with hair. They were all laughing as they chased the rainbow, which meant that they were having great fun - and the rainbow seemed to accommodate them by playfully zigzagging around them.

The Unicorn swallowed when she realised she actually recognised these creatures as well. She did not know their names, but she knew what they were. Mushroms! She had not seen their kind in years. They were a shy bunch who preferred not to be disturbed by any of what they called the "Bigger Folk" - meaning just about everyone who were not as small as they were. They were the only inhabitants of the Mushromp aside from the Moochick and had been there - so the Moochick had told the Unicorn - a long time before he had ever set foot in there.

What were they doing here? The Unicorn was puzzled as she watched the five small creatures romp and play with the rainbow. As she watched she became suddenly very aware that the valley was actually extremely pretty. It was brighter here than it was anywhere else she had been that day. Was it because of the rainbow? She wasn't sure.

Carefully, and more out of a sudden intuition than any real plan, she stepped out onto the meadow. She moved slowly and quietly, not wanting to scare the Mushroms. When she had got a dozen or so feet away she stopped and cleared her throat.

The rainbow was the first to notice her, so to speak. She was not entirely certain if the behaviour of the prism could have been called precisely conscious, but upon her entrance it stopped and remained hovering in the air, just barely half a feet above the Mushroms' heads. The tiny creatures hopped up to try and touch it, but then one of them - the dark green one - suddenly stopped and gestured urgently to the others. They stopped hopping as well and looked over their shoulders. Instantly the two identical pink ones - the only females, the Unicorn could tell by the hair - eeped and scurried behind the bigger orange one, who looked at the Unicorn with a rather dull, confused look on his face.

The dark green one, who all in all seemed like the most perceptive of the bunch, stepped forward and spread out his hands protectively in between the Unicorn and the other Mushroms.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The Unicorn smiled to the Mushrom.

"I am Unicorn," she said and then looked at the rainbow. "And I think that's my rainbow."

The Mushrom looked up, appearing confused. "Oh," he said, not sounding entirely convinced. "Well. We weren't going to steal it."

"Yeah, we were just playing with it," the light green one chimed in, and the orange one nodded. "Yaa, we were just going to see if tastes good."

"Brother!" the pink twin girls peeped and poked the orange one to the side, then smiled toward the Unicorn. "Uh, our brother is just kidding."

The Unicorn had to smile. "Don't worry. I don't think he could have bitten off a piece even if he'd tried." She looked at the rainbow now and approached it carefully. It waited quietly. She stopped a few inches away and sniffed the ribbon of colour. She could not tell by the smell what it was. She contemplated for a moment whether to try dipping her head into it. Now that she was so close, she was mesmerised by the shifting, iridescent colours, each one more brilliant than the other. She could just make out seven different colours, outlined in a white glow. She swallowed. Seven colours... she could make out red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple... and... she squinted her eyes, it was difficult to make out the shade of the seventh colour as it kept jumping from side to side, as though it could not quite decide whether it should have been on the red or the purple side of the ribbon. Finally she placed it on the red side - pink. She shook her head. Not exactly the traditional combination.

"If it's yours," the dark green Mushrom said impertinently, "why are you looking at it as if you've never seen it before?"

The Unicorn's ears swivelled back, in a sad motion. "Never mind that," she said quietly. Then she lowered her head to look at the little creatures. "Why are you here?" she asked. "Shouldn't you be in the Mushromp?"

The Mushroms' little faces went serious, and the two girls looked away. The dark green one shook his head. "It's being destroyed," he said sadly. "Mushroom by mushroom - it's that hideous thing, looks like a giant spider. If you're not new to these parts, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

The Unicorn nodded, feeling even more depressed. Ahgg. She should have known. "I know it," she said. "But... Master Moochick, he's still holding fast, isn't he?"

The dark green Mushrom shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose so. But one man can't hold off an army forever, and everyone knows the Midnight Army will march to Mushromp soon. So we decided to leave. Maybe if we can get far enough..."

The Unicorn shook her head. "There is no 'far enough' anymore," she said sourly. "The Portal of Darkness is open. All of Realm of Dreams will be lost."

"Oh, dear," a new voice sounded from the other side of the meadow, "I suppose I've come too late then."

The Unicorn jerked her head up, surprised, searching for the source of the voice with her eyes. Almost instantly her eyes landed on a beautiful white bird standing at the other end of the meadow. She gasped. The bird was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. She had a snow white feathering, except for the purple feather crown on her head and her luxurious, colourful tail which hung behind her much like a peacock's tail. Her eyes were large and lustrous and her beak was small and delicate. Her feet were long and she stood just a little taller than the Unicorn, her back a good foot higher than the Unicorn's back. Around her neck she carried a medallion set with a luxurious golden stone. The Unicorn could not help but gape.

This bird was, based on everything she had heard from the Moochick, one of the Pennas.

The expression on the beautiful Penna's face was a sad one, and she lowered her head for a moment to look down, her eyelashes hiding her brilliant eyes. Then she looked up again, and there was a kind of hopeful smile curving her mouth.

"I am Pluma," she said, and her voice was exquisitely soft. "I am the Guardian of the Sunstone."

The Unicorn was trying her best to recover. "I... I am Unicorn."

Pluma dipped her head, a curious expression in her eyes. But she asked nothing. "I am pleased to meet you, Unicorn." She moved her eyes to the Mushroms. Her face seemed confused as well as curious.

The Mushroms had been quiet, staring at the bird with some amount of admiration as well as suspicion. Finally the dark green one stepped forth. "We are Mushroms," he said tentatively.

Pluma cocked her head to one side, obviously confused. "Mushrooms?"

The dark green Mushrom made a face. "No, no, no. Mush_roms_," he said, putting special weight to the end of the word. "Not mushrooms, Mushroms."

"Ah." Pluma did not appear completely convinced but smiled politely. "I see."

The Unicorn was not sure if she did, but surmised this was not the proper time to discuss the differences between common mushrooms and the Mushroms. She stepped forward. "Are you... are you one of the Pennas?" she asked, her ears pricked. Her heart had suddenly started to pump faster in her chest. If this was one of the Pennas - perhaps she knew where the other half of the Flashstone was. Perhaps there was hope yet.

"I am," Pluma replied, nodding. "My grandfather sent me here. He said it was the time..." She trailed off and looked away. "But if Grogar is already here... it is too late."

The Unicorn shook her head quickly. "No," she said. "Not if you have the Flashstone. Grogar lost his half..." she gulped, "recently."

Pluma frowned, looking confused for a moment, then her forehead cleared off. "Oh... you mean the Sunstone."

The Unicorn stared. "The Sunstone? What is that?"

"It is, why, it's our side of the Flashstone. Twin of the Nightstone."

The Unicorn's blank face made Pluma smile.

"Oh, of course," she murmured. "You would not have heard." She smiled and closed the distance between herself and the Unicorn and the Mushroms. She extended her wing and used it to lift up the medallion she wore around her neck. "This is the Sunstone. It is the half of the Flashstone taken by my grandfather, Ruff, when the Lord of Darkness last came into our realm. Throughout the centuries the magic of the Pennas has molded it until now... it has taken a new identity. And just like the Sunstone, Grogar's half of the Flashstone has been affected by the Dark Magic and has become something new."

"The Nightstone," the Unicorn whispered. It made perfect sense, of course. Her eyes turned to the Sunstone. Now that she looked at it more closely she could see it was not gold at all. The stone was more of a deep honey colour, glistening in the sunlight. It was beautiful. She started to smile and looked at Pluma. "Grogar doesn't have the Nightstone anymore!" she said eagerly. "With the Sunstone, we can strike back!"

Pluma, however, did not smile. She held the Unicorn's eyes for a moment, then looked down. "If the Portal is open - it is already too late."

"No," the Unicorn shook her head. "Grogar didn't have the stone last time when you drove him back. Now we have the Sunstone, and he has nothing. Surely..."

"Last time," now Pluma's eyes had a stone-cold expression, "it took all of my kind to drive him back. Thousands of Pennas perished in that attempt." Her eyes softened, and she sighed. "The Sunstone's power is but half of the power the Flashstone once held. It is not enough."

The Unicorn frowned. "But the Moochick said..." She suddenly stopped as she thought back on what he had really said. _If we can get the half of a Flashstone he has, we might be able to use its power against him._ The Unicorn's ears drooped as she remembered the Moochick's exact words. _...so that I might study the stone and figure out the best way to use it against Grogar._ Never had he said that he was sure that he would be able to use the stone to defeat Grogar. He had merely said if, and might. Downcast, she looked down.

Pluma looked sympathetic. "Well... I don't know who this Moochick is, but I suppose, if he is a great magician, he might know a way." She sighed. "If only I could have been here sooner. It took me too long to decipher what grandfather meant with his last words."

The Unicorn looked at Pluma suddenly, surprised. "Last words?"

Pluma nodded, looking sad. "Yes. Some time ago my grandfather fell very ill. As he was old, I knew to expect it, and so at first I did not realise that he was trying to tell me something in his delirium. By the time I realised he was not simply hallucinating it was too late. He was very ill toward the end and it was difficult to understand what he wanted to say."

"I'm sorry," the Unicorn said softly. Then she frowned slightly. "But... if there are still Pennas - where are the rest of them, and... why have you been hiding all this time?"

Pluma sighed. "It was grandfather's idea. He was convinced that if we did not hide from everyone the evil ones might find us, and protecting the Sunstone was more important than anything else. So he and his daughter - my mother - and her husband left together. My parents... died a long time ago." Her voice was frail, hollow. "Now that my grandfather is also dead I... am the last of the Pennas."

A suspended breath escaped from the Unicorn's lungs. She looked at Pluma. She was so beautiful, so elegant... and so sad. She did not understand how she had not seen it right away. Her countenance was that of tragedy and grief. The Unicorn took a step forward, extending her muzzle toward Pluma.

"I am... only one of my kind as well," she said softly. "There are no others like me."

Pluma looked at her, a single tear visible in her liquid eyes. "Then you must know," she whispered, "what a solitary existence it can be."

The Unicorn nodded wordlessly. She knew. And at that moment, meeting Pluma and looking into her eyes, she saw reflected the same empty chasm that she felt inside her - the vast sorrow that tore at her heart strings every time she saw families. It was loneliness. Loneliness of the kind that only those who are alone might know. Loneliness that tells you there is no one else alike you and no one who can fully understand who and what you are.

For that brief moment she could, for the first time in her life, feel true kinship toward another being. While Pluma was the last of her kind, the Unicorn was the only one that had ever been. She was not sure which was more deplorable but she knew that in that moment in time they shared an understanding of each other that only those who have no kin can. Nose and beak touched, and the two magical creatures both knew they had met true compassion born out of understanding rather than pity.

"Anyway..." Pluma then said, obviously feeling awkward and not wanting to drag along the moment. She turned to look at the rainbow, which was still floating in the air. "What is this?" she asked in wonder.

"It's hers," the dark green Mushrom said.

"_She_ says," one of the pink Mushroms muttered.

The Unicorn smiled a little. She admitted to being a little proud of the rainbow. "It is... well, I haven't really given it a name yet. I created it. With... with a wish."

Now Pluma looked at her sharply. "With a wish?" she asked quickly. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." the Unicorn felt there was no need for secrecy any longer. They would all be dead before not too long, and besides, she was sure that if anyone, the Penna could be trusted. "I can grant wishes. It was what I was created for, I suppose. I'm not sure. You see... a long time ago..." And so she related to the Penna, and the awed Mushroms, her story from the moment she had been born to the moment she had arrived at the meadow and seen the Mushroms. "And so, obviously, I was surprised to see the rainbow... here, since I thought... well, frankly, I'm not sure what I thought, but I certainly didn't expect to find it again."

Pluma regarded her now thoughtfully. "You know, I think you underrestimate yourself," she said then. "This wish that brought you to life on that meadow obviously gave you great power. Have you ever considered the possibility that if you can create a powerful... thing like this rainbow of light you might be able to channel your power to fight Grogar or possibly create a mighty weapon? Together with the Sunstone... _you_ might be a weapon."

The Unicorn shook her head, looking dubious. "Mighty weapon, me? I don't..."

Then she paused as her mind went back on the events in the throne room of the Midnight Castle. Grogar had put some kind of a spell on her and pulled something out from her. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that it had been her dark side - like the Moochick had said, her power could be used for Darkness as well as for Light; what if Grogar had somehow managed to unleash the Darkness? She shuddered. The thought was not pleasant, and yet it gave her an idea. A terrible, wonderful idea. She just wasn't sure if it would work.

"You know..." she murmured as she looked at Pluma. "I think I'd like to think about this for a while."

Pluma nodded slowly. "All right," she said. "It seems that this meadow is safe for the time being. Perhaps I will stay here for a while. I also have a lot to think about."

The Mushroms watched Pluma walk away with graceful steps and then looked at the Unicorn, who remained standing, frowning. The pink twin girls cleared their throats. "Ah... Miss Unicorn... maybe we could, that is, if you're not doing anything with the rainbow right now..."

The Unicorn glanced over her shoulder to the Mushroms and smiled gently. "Certainly," she said kindly. "Play with it as long as you like."

As the Mushroms scurried off, chasing the rainbow, the Unicorn knelt on the grass, resting her head down.

* * *

The door of the Dream Room closed, leaving Crescent Crystal alone again. The Story Club meeting had been uneventful this time. She sighed as she rolled off on her side and felt her body slowly coming visible again. She was sometimes not even certain whether her invisibility or visibility was more of a burden to her. Sometimes when she was especially tired it was hard to stay visible, and other times, when she was feeling energetic, it was difficult to fade away. She wondered if she would be able to even walk through objects one day. It seemed like an exciting ability and her mother had often talked about its advantages.

Another exciting day behind her, the baby pony drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Author's Notes: Don't worry, you'll find out what the Unicorn thought up in the next chapter. Oh, and how did you like the transition pieces in the "present time"? I decided to exclude Kimono and the baby ponies for a moment. We'll be back with them in the later chapters though.


	11. The Great Wish

Author's Notes: I've wanted to write this chapter for a long, long time. In fact, I've had it sitting on my computer for years now, just begging to be finished. I wrote the first draft back in 2004 and this chapter, really, was one of the most important bits of the entire story.

...told you I'd be back. ;)

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: The Great Wish**

Kimono corrected her glasses on her nose as she glanced down the page. "Now, where were we?"

"The Unicorn was on the meadow," Baby Romperooni provided. "And she was going to think." She looked displeased. "Can't we just skip past that? It's got to be really boring."

Kimono raised an eyebrow. "Oh, all right," she then said compliantly. "We can skip past all that. I don't suppose you really do want to hear about the Great Wish."

"The Great Wish?" Baby Romperooni asked, her eyes brightening up. "What's that?"

"It is the greatest sacrifice made by the greatest of all ponies," Kimono said somberly.

Baby Romperooni looked dubious. "That still sounds boring. Can't you tell us what's happening to Scorpan?"

"Scorpan?" Kimono looked surprised. "What makes you think something is happening to Scorpan?"

"Well, of course something's happening to him!" Baby Romperooni said impatiently. "He's captured at the castle, isn't he?" Upon seeing Kimono's serious expression, the baby pony grew a little concerned and repeated, more anxiously: "Isn't he?" Kimono still said nothing. Romperooni let out a little yelp. "He's not really dead, is he? He can't be dead!"

Kimono raised a brow. "And why is that, little one?"

"Because I liked him," Romperooni said, sticking out her lower lip, pouting.

Kimono smiled just a little. She was about to note that in time, Baby Romperooni might find that people did die, despite the fact that Romperooni happened to like them. But she caught herself in time. It was not an appropriate sort of thing to tell the baby ponies. She wondered at herself. Had time really made her this bitter?

"You will hear all about Scorpan later," she said simply and then turned back to the Book.

* * *

Years had passed since the Unicorn's birth. The world had moved around her and she herself had moved with the years that had waxed and waned. She had seen many seasons come and watched them go. Now she was an adult. Her form had become slender and she had found strength and wisdom. She had also found friends.

As she now lay on the grass, kneeling, her eyes closed, she thought back on it all and could not help but wonder whether there was one thing that she could never find. Her mind travelled back to her first visit to Grundleland. She recalled all the happy families she had seen. The mothers and their children. Brothers and sisters. And from these memories a single word escaped and formed in her mind.

Kin.

She had never found her kin. Souls who felt like her. Bodies that would respond to her own. She had visited the deer, like the kind grundles had suggested. She had even visited those whom Master Moochick called horses. She had been foreign among them all; much smaller than the horses and of different build entirely than the deer, she did not belong with either species. She knew there were no others like her. This thought had made her lonely though she had attempted to ignore how she felt. Pluma had made these feelings surface again. Her sadness, of being the last of her kind, struck a chord inside the Unicorn.

Of late she had grown restless. In her dreams she had seen the earthling children play with one other. In the woods she had seen the animals frolick and love and have and hold, all with another of their kind to keep them company. But she was alone.

She knew why it was. She knew how she had been created. She knew that a little girl in another world had wished for her existence, wished it and believed into it so much that here, in this world which was receptive to such power, her wish had come true. She had become alive. But there could be no others like her, born the same way, for such a wish, such faith that could cross worlds and breathe life into magic was rare. It came about only once in a lifetime, perhaps even rarer. That meant she was something very special. Moochick had certainly always seemed to believe in her, and so had Scorpan, in his own way.

That day, she felt like she had failed. Failed her mentor. Failed Scorpan. Failed the grundles. Failed everyone she had ever learned to love. She had started to question herself, question what it meant to be "special". She realised that what it meant was to be alone. However, now Pluma's words had triggered a thought inside her.

_This wish that brought you to life on that meadow obviously gave you great power. Have you ever considered the possibility that if you can create a powerful... thing like this rainbow of light you might be able to channel your power to fight Grogar or possibly create a mighty weapon?_

She had created the rainbow. It had been a powerful force, one which had driven Grogar and Tirak back, forced them on their knees. Was it possible to control that power? She did not know how to command it and the mere creation of it had taken everything from her. She remembered collapsing. Worst of all, she remembered waking in chains. But there was something in that waking moment which nagged at her. Something had been different. Her hair had changed colours. It was as though she had been marked by the wish she made. And now that she thought back on it, she realised this may not have been the first time something like that happened. She had all but forgotten her first experiences on that meadow so many years ago, but now they came back to her clearly. She had wished, wished with all her being, that she understood. The wish had come true. It had been a grand wish and now she wondered-had she been marked then, too? She had never seen her eyes before she had made her wish. Had they been white?

What did it mean? She frowned, frustrated, and opened her eyes, staring into the distance. She wished Moochick were there to help her understand. Or Scorpan, at least. She felt stupid and lonely. The loneliness hit her hard again. If only she had others to speak with, others who might understand, others who would comfort her and give her strength.

And there the thought came to her. Could others like her be _created_? She knew that the odds of another as powerful a wish as the one that had created her being made, of the same species, no less, were minuscule. But did the wish need to come from outside of the Realm of Dreams? Could it come from within it? Moreover... could it come from within _her_? The thought made her shudder a little. She recalled the beastly thing which had been pulled out of her by Grogar's magic. Surely, it had had her appearance, but nothing of her nature. That thing had been evil.

But was it only because it had been created by evil? What if the prompt came from her? The rainbow had come out of her. She remembered what she had wished. She had wished that love would become power. That rainbow... was love. What if that same power would be used to create others like herself?

_...you might be able to channel your power to... create a mighty weapon..._

Could she?

She stumbled up onto her feet, swinging her head round, her crystal blue eyes searching out the rainbow. It fluttered through the air, soared and zigzagged, rippling as though it was bubbling with laughter as it danced with the Mushroms. It was beauty itself, yet it was also powerful. It had repelled the power of the Flashstone, albeit briefly. If she used it to create others like herself, would they not be unstoppable?

Would they?

_Last time it took all of my kind to drive him back. Thousands of Pennas perished in that attempt._

The Unicorn swallowed. If she created this army out of the rainbow-would they, too, perish in flocks? Would they be swept out of existence just as the Pennas had once been? Would she be creating the light of life, only to be snuffed out after a brief flicker? Was it fair?

But what was fair? She knew that the forces of Darkness were rising. The Portal was open. It would not be long until thousands and thousands of Grogar's minions would join their master. The Realm of Dreams would be swallowed by the Darkness-forever. Was that fair?

And it was she, was it not, she who had opened the Portal in the first place. She had let Grogar into this world as surely as if she would have called him there. Grogar had said so, and most importantly-Master Moochick had said so. _You tore open the delicate web that keeps our worlds in balance._ She had let this monster into this world. The only way she could redeem herself was to banish him again. Even if it took her very life.

Suddenly, she was certain she could do this. The wish to not be alone was so strong inside her that it filled her every sense. At nights when she galloped with the human children in their dreams she cried silent tears for this wish. Every daybreak brought pain to one corner of her soul, the one who no longer wanted to be alone. This wish was in her very being, it was the truest wish she could ever make. She could do this. Master Moochick had explained to her about wishes that could be done and those that could not. This wish, she was certain, could be done.

"And here," she whispered as her eyes fixed onto the rainbow, "it _shall_ be done!"

Out on the meadow, the rainbow suddenly halted in midair. It curved inquiringly, like a snake turning its head, toward the Unicorn. She looked at it with a stern, steady expression. There was a purpose in her clear blue eyes as she set her forehoof down and then lifted it again, once, twice, and again, until she was pounding the ground, her power beginning to swell inside her as she called onto it. The rainbow made a little twirl and then shot through the air toward her, leaving the confused Mushroms behind. The swirling ribbon of colour took a sharp turn just as it had reached the Unicorn and there it paused, floating in the air like a wonderful multicoloured serpent, glistening in the sunlight in the full brilliance of the spectrum. It waited.

The Unicorn knew instinctively, as she always did, what to do. It was different than before. Both of the times she had made a wish for herself, just for herself, she had hardly been aware of what she was doing. She had barely even known she was using magic. This time, she was fully aware of every ounce of magic inside her, conscious of every movement of the currents of energy that flowed through her.

And most of all, this time, she was ready.

"I wish," the Unicorn's soft voice began, still pawing the ground with her front hoof, "that there was a stallion." This was the first word that came to her mind as she thought of a male of her species, one she had learned from the horses, those who were closest to what she could call her kin. But she did not feel this was adequate. Certainly, she wished for someone to match her, to offer that other half which she missed, but this was not the way. She shook her head and fixed her eyes onto the deep purple in the rainbow which was the leftmost colour, bordered by the blue on the right. She thought of the power, the power which she wanted to create, the power which could bring down the heights of heavens or break down the depths of earth itself. With that thought, she wished. "By the Rainbow of Love, I wish Power would take my shape!"

And with a great shudder, the rainbow seemed to split from where the purple stripe met the blue. Momentarily the purple came loose from the spectrum, then the prism appeared intact again. But the purple ribbon was now separate, with but flickers of blue at its edges, and it fell onto the ground in front of the Unicorn. It was nothing but a puddle of colour, liquid and shapeless, struggling up from the green grass. She felt a surge of triumph and fear at the same time-she was doing something, surely, but was she doing what she meant to?

"Be!" she screamed as she saw the puddle of colour beginning to grow unstable round the edges and fade. "I wish you to _be_!"

Commanded by the power that surged through her, the puddle of colour grew in size and its glow in intensity until she had to close her eyes. When she felt that the light had faded, she dared to open her eyes. What faced her was more than she could have ever anticipated. She gasped as she witnessed a powerful, tall stallion. His fur was a brilliant deep purple and his mane a flash of clear blue, much like her eyes but paler. His eyes, equally clear blue, stared deep into her with such intensity that she could barely stand to face him. She stood in awe of this thing she had created. His neck arched beautifully over his deep, wide chest. His hooves were covered by long thick fetlocks, but she could see their large, powerful shape underneath. She knew instantly that he was Power itself. Unchained, unstoppable, he was everything in her which would move forward. He was her fury.

A wild smile on her lips, she now knew she could do this. She had called on her power and the power of the Rainbow, and she had shaped this stallion as the embodiment of all that.

"I name you Quake," she spoke to the stallion. "For you will shake the ground wherever you tread."

The powerful stallion bowed his head, sunlight rippling over his indigo muscles as he accepted this name.

Now, she realised she must give her second creation something else to draw its existence from. The Unicorn felt at a loss at first. She raised her eyes to the sky, looking to know where she should draw power from, and that was where it came to her. Smiling, she looked at the rainbow again. She thought of strong winds, she thought of the birds that soared overhead, she thought of the wild and the untamed sky. Her eyes fixed onto the blue stripe now, and again she called onto the rainbow as she called: "I wish Air would take my shape!"

And with those words, she suddenly felt the wind through her mane, it shot through the rainbow where the blue stripe connected with the green, and she could see a swirl of colour tear off from the rainbow. The blue ribbon swirled ever faster and faster, and she thought to herself that it was like a blue whirlwind, with little specks of green thrown in. She knew now what to do, and her magic touched on the whirling mass of air and colour, shaping it like a potter shapes clay, until she could see the shape she liked. It was there she withdrew-and before her stood another male with slender feet like hers, graceful yet strong features and feathered wings on his back. His body was a splendid tone of deep blue and his hair a luxurious shade of sea green. His equally green eyes sparkled with joy like she had never known, and it made her heart sing.

"I name you Whirlwind," the Unicorn said. "For out of the wind, you were born."

Again the stallion nobly bowed his head. As soon as she had received his acceptance, she turned and gazed to the brook which snaked through the meadow, then returned her eyes to the rainbow. She thought of the depths of the ocean where she had once visited, she thought of the coral reefs and the swelling waves. There was another shudder through the ribbon of colour as she uttered her third wish: "I wish Water would take my shape!"

The green stripe which happened to connect with the red in the ever-moving, flitting depths of the rainbow, now came loose like the other two had before. It fell into the brook and there mingled with the waves. As the Unicorn watched, a shape formed. It was a shape which reminded her of the beautiful seahorses she had seen in the depths of the ocean. She had dived to visit the coral reefs and there she had seen many wonders. Now, she saw that her own desire for someone like herself was mingling with those memories, for what arose from the brook was not fully an equine. This creature had her delicate head and hair of striking red, but from the neck down the shape changed onto a maritime form with a sleek, long tail and red-tipped fins.

"I name you Ocean Heart," she whispered, awestruck of this foreign yet familiar shape she beheld. "For you come out of the depths of the Great Blue."

The strange creature dipped her head to accept this, her misty, liquid eyes watching the Unicorn as she turned to the rainbow again. Vaguely the Unicorn realised that she was growing tired, but she knew she could not stop here. _Seven,_ she thought to herself hazily. _There must be seven of them. To match the colours of the rainbow._ And so she chose the next element. She thought of fire.

"I wish Fire would take my shape." But now, there was no surge of power, the red stripe which she intently stared did not move. The rainbow shuddered, then it was still-and she realised that she had nothing to mold this wish from into reality. She had no time to build a fire, her strength would fail her. A little panicked, she looked around, trying to see anything, anything at all that she could use to complete the deep magic she sought to invoke.

Her eyes hit a flock of butterflies, flitting from one flower to another. The meadow was filled with them, butterflies of a thousand colours, each more exquisite than the last. She gave a tired smile as she watched their wings beating, flapping like flickers of little flames-and there she found what she was looking for. Commanded by her call, the hundreds of tiny wings started flapping faster and faster. They soon moved in a flock and as the red stripe came loose from the rainbow, pulling a strand of orange with it, she felt relieved. The flock of butterflies and the red colour mingled, until the colour could finally take shape. What emerged was not at all what the Unicorn had expected. She was smaller than the Unicorn herself, her wings much frailer than those of the stallion she had called to life earlier. They were butterfly's wings of many orange and red colours, beating in a quick rhythm as the beautiful creature glided to the ground. She was delicate, even more delicate than the unicorn herself, to the point that it looked as though snapping her bones was as easy as crushing a butterfly's wings. Her hair was a multicoloured sea of orange, red and gold and as she moved, sunlight gave a warm glow to her fierce red coat. The Unicorn could see her own determination reflected in the delicate mare's orange eyes and knew immediately that the fragile appearance belied her strong heart.

"I name you Hearth," the first unicorn whispered. "For yours is the fire of our hearts."

Again she received a nod. The Unicorn's legs trembled now as her eyes dropped to the ground. Yes... ground. She had not yet called on the most powerful element of them all. She thought of the firm ground beneath her hooves, the one thing that could always be trusted-she thought of the earth.

"I wish that Earth would take my shape."

The rainbow shuddered again as another stripe, the orange one this time, disattached itself and fell. The Unicorn watched as the ribbon of colour touched the ground and then started to move through the grass like a snake frantically seaching for something. Finally there was a flash of orange lightning and she saw that the ribbon of colour wrapped itself around an acorn that happened to lie nearby. The acorn grew larger as the orange stripe joined with it, until the colour, or perhaps the ribbon, or perhaps both of them, changed shape. Soon she saw another male, much less attractive in appearance than any of the others. He lacked the impressive large hooves and thick fetlocks of the first stallion. He was not muscular nor did he have the handsome, graceful features of the second stallion. His coat was a plain orange, his hair equally plain yellow and all in all his mane resembled a haystack, carelessly tossed over a scarecrow to serve for hair. There was a kind of sad, slumped look to him. Had the Unicorn long since learned not to judge others by their appearances, she might have dismissed him as a failure.

"I will name you Acorn," the Unicorn whispered weakly. "With the hope that you are like an oak, growing into greatness."

He dipped his head, keeping his eyes to the ground.

The Unicorn moved on-she began to be aware that she needed to hurry now. She wanted to create two more of her kind and her strength would soon fail her. She thought of the sun and light, the warm embrace of the summer day's warmth, and called out: "I wish the Sun itself would take my shape!"

This was a grand wish, and she felt its effects immediately in her own body. She fell on her knees as her body suddenly became too heavy for her to carry. Sunlight filled the meadow. Its brilliance was too much for the Unicorn to bear. She squeezed her eyes shut, gasping, hoping she had not angered whatever spirits decided on the fates of mortals and immortals alike. She never saw the yellow stripe detach from the rainbow and was aware of but the blinding light which burned through even her shut eyelids. And then, as quickly as the flash of light had come, it had gone, and she dared to look again.

There, on the meadow, she saw the most exquisite little thing she had ever beheld. The female was delicate and slender, just a little smaller than she was. She, too, had strange wings, but they were nothing like either of the two wings the Unicorn had created so far. These wings were a wonderful, thin veil of sparkling stardust. The bright yellow coat shone in the sunlight and the pink curls descended over the creature's graceful neck softly. The Unicorn felt as though she might weep for the splendour of this daughter of the Sun.

"I shall name you Rosedust," the Unicorn whispered with a trembling voice, tears streaming down her cheeks. "For your beauty."

She knew now that she had but a little strength left, and she must use it all on her last wish. She fixed her eyes onto the pink colour which flitted in the rainbow, changing shape and size and placement and mingling with the white glow. This last wish, she would make to ask for a sister. She wanted, at last, that there would be another exactly like her. She wished to be the only Unicorn no more. "I wish..." she whispered hoarsely as she fixed her thoughts onto the morning star which she knew was up there, beyond the blue skies, "that the Stars... would take my shape."

This wish was, perhaps, the most special of all seven she had made that day, for it drew on the her fondest wish, while concentrating on the wishing star she had so many times concentrated her powers on. She opened her heart and allowed the magic to dip into the strength found there. The pink colour, combined with the white, shone brighter now. At the moment of her wish, the pink stripe had been located near the purple one, and a tiny fraction of that purple now came off with the pink colour as light started to become flesh one last time. Swirl of mist rose from the earth and the light grew brigther, ever brighter, until the Unicorn again wearily closed her eyes. Once the light dimmed, she opened them but barely, and through the tears she could see a shape emerging from the mist before her. It was a pale pink shape, slender and beautiful, and as it arched over her she saw the light catch the snow-white mane and the single purple stripe in it. Purple eyes appeared above her and, straining her eyes, she finally caught sight of that which she had so long hoped to see.

A slender horn sat on this creature's forehead. The Unicorn let out a little whinny of exhausted relief.

"I name you..." Her vision dimmed and the other unicorn became but a blurred figure overhead. "Twilight," she whispered the name with her last breath, just before world fell into darkness.

* * *

After Kimono had closed the Book of Dreams, the baby ponies sat in silence for a long time. There were no questions, no exclamations. Their faces were bathed in the candlelight and there was not a single eye that did not gleam with tears. The story of creation was not one often spoke about in Ponyville. After the war, it had become something more than legend, Kimono mused, but it was still something less than history. Not all adult ponies believed into it, though there were few who would have ever dared to utter words of suspicion aloud when delegates of the Crystal Palace visited Ponyville. Kimono herself had no reason to suspect the word of the Ancients who had written down their memories onto the parchments delivered to her from the Crystal Palace. The Book of Dreams had then been compiled based on those parchments, by Kimono's own hoof. She thought fondly back to the time when the duty of the Keeper of Dreams had been given to her. She had taken the task very seriously from the start. She only wished that more Ponyvillians would have true faith in the history of their people.

"She... she didn't die, did she?" came then a small voice from the back row, startling Kimono from her thoughts. She looked at the baby ponies benignly.

"No," she told them softly. "She didn't die."

"But you said she made a great sacrifice," Baby Romperooni said, sounding displeased. "If she's not dead, then what's the sacrifice?"

Kimono corrected her glasses. "You will find out," she said. "You will understand it all better later."

Baby Romperooni did not seem altogether satisfied, but her mind seemed to quickly jump to another matter. "She became the first Queen of Ponyland, didn't she?" Baby Romperooni asked eagerly. "She built the Dream Castle, right?"

Kimono gave a soft chuckle. "Not entirely so," she said, looking enigmatic. "But she did other wonderful things. And you will hear about them all, my baby ponies. You will hear about them all."

* * *

Author's Notes: ...who saw it coming?


End file.
